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Ads that made history: IKEA's Dining Room (1994)

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When we think of ads that made history, we usually focus on one particular aspect. We want to see the most expensive, the most effective, the one that made us all laugh or cry, maybe even the one who made us all wish we could start a class action on the spot. Often though, the heat of the moment vanishes, and as a new day sets in, the advertising industry is pretty much all the same.

There are few ads out there which will have clearly made history as much as Ikea’s Dining Room. Shaking the advertising industry from the ground-up, bringing some much needed change at a time when everybody preferred to look elsewhere – the Ikea Dining Room was unique in a way that many other advertising of the time were not: it featured a homosexual couple.

An ad that truly made history

On 29th March, 1994, The New York Times wrote as follows: “Ikea is introducing what is believed to be the first general advertising effort in the mainstream media to feature identifiably gay consumers.”

Nearly 30 years later (jeez), the advertising industry is still certain that The New York Times was right. Ikea was the first brand to ever feature representation for the LGBTQ+ community in a filmed ad, crafted by Deutsch Inc. in New York. This basic level of representation was long overdue, despite a consistent chunk of the population (CEO & ECD Donny Deutsch referred to “10%” at the time, but we believe it was closer to 5%) identifying as part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Until that time, only a handful of major advertisers had featured LGBTQ+ representation in their ads, but these were mostly print ads. Ikea was the first one to show a gay couple as part of a TV campaign.

As it happens, not everybody was pleased with the ad. There were angry conservatives calling for a boycott of the company, irate customers flooding the Ikea phone lines, and there was even a bomb threat in a store in Hicksville, New York. Yet, despite these hitches, the ad entered the annals of advertising history and was actually meant to symbolise how everyone is welcome in an Ikea store, regardless of their race, gender or sexual identity.

Capturing the spirit of turbulent times

Ikea was never afraid to dare or push against common conceptions in its marketing, and this ad was an excellent testimony to the pioneering spirit of the brand. It came at a time of many major changes for the LGBTQ+ community, in the US/UK and beyond, as governments all around the world started recognising the value of representation and the importance of diversity all across the 1990s.

Especially in the UK, the 1990s were the years in which Pride and diversity values started to spread around the nation. 1990 marked the arrival of the first Pride event in Manchester and in Northern Ireland, while sex between two men was largely decriminalised worldwide starting that year. In 1992, in what is considered a major milestone for LGBTQ+ history, the World Health Organisation declassified same-sex attraction as a mental illness, moving a major step towards diversity and inclusion.

And then in 1994, the year when the Ikea ad aired, the UK House of Commons lowered the age of consent between same-sex men from 21 to 18, and the Crown Dependency of Isle of Man fully decriminalised homosexuality. A series of other milestones would be worth noting from those years, such as the foundation of charity Mermaids in 1995, but it would just be proving the point further: Ikea released the ad with Deutsch just as the time was right to start talking about representation in TV.

Production Highlights

The ad featured a same-sex couple talking to the camera about buying a new dining room table and discussing their relationship with the “interviewer”. But the best thing about the Ikea ad is that it was completely unassuming and it did not make a big fuss about the two men per se. If anything, the ad is simply featuring a couple discussing their furnishing needs. At a time when basic LGBTQ+ rights were still in discussion, Ikea attempted to normalise it all and entered the conversation with an incredibly simple film. That is genius enough to enter the history of advertising.

In truth, Ikea identified an opportunity to reach out to a segment of audience until then largely ignored, and decided to take the leap. In an April 1994 article from the L.A. Times, the then East Coast Head of Marketing Peter Connolly said: “We’re not trying to promote a certain lifestyle or make a statement. This is just part of our overall strategy to try to speak directly to all kinds of customers.”

The unconventional filming and writing, which almost feels genuinely improvised in places, was what contributed to the general feel of the ad, evoking normality and daily life, as well as the beauty of simple things: buying a dining room table together, with a leaf to symbolise commitment.

The ad wraps up with a big tagline on screen which, once again, does not reference the LGBTQ+ undertone at all: ”It’s a big country. Someone’s got to furnish it.”

Legacy and moving forward

Ikea and Deutsch partnered and worked together on this ad in 1994, when the time was exactly right to throw some really overdue representation into the industry’s net. It could have been Guinness – which tried to follow a year later, but gave in to pressures and never aired the ad. It could have been Unilever – which followed three years later with their own series of ads (above).

Instead, it was Ikea, and it was Deutsch – which will surprise few, really. Ikea has a history of tackling social issues head on and finding innovative ways to leave a mark in the history of marketing and advertising. It makes sense that it was the brand coming out in the open with such a pioneering ad, which makes it all the more wonderful that they are still here, 27 years later, reaping the fruits of all their hard work.

Since 1994, Ikea has been using pro-LGBTQ+ imagery and campaigns periodically across all of its major touchpoints. The Dining Room ad has inspired many to follow in the steps of the Swedish giant, and rightly so. While many will agree that the path is still long and there is still much to do to reach full representation, all the major events in history start somewhere – and in a year like 2021, when social good is taking the centre stage and authenticity is more important than ever, thinking back on how far we’ve come since the Ikea ad is priceless.

Here’s to another milestone in LGBTQ+ representation in advertising – hopefully reached as soon as it’s humanly possible.

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