2017: The year of the pee tape. 2018: The year of the pee ad.
In wacky shopping news to kick off 2018, Ikea has a new ad campaign that doubles as a pregnancy test, Adweek reports.
“Peeing on this ad may change your life,” reads the ad for the Sundvik baby crib, followed by instructions to pee on the marked area. After a few minutes, if you’re pregnant, a discounted price for the crib will be revealed in red print. I wonder how many women will actually figure out that they’re knocked up this way?
Swedish ad agency Åkestam Holst conceived of the ad in collaboration with Mercene Labs, who created it with technology similar to that used in a pregnancy test.
“In order to make the interactive functions of this ad work in reality, we had to make several technical advancements. The pregnancy test strip was used as a starting point, which relies on antibodies that bind to the pregnancy hormone hCG, resulting in a color change,” Holst explained to AdWeek.
The ad is currently printed in Amelia Magazine, a Swedish magazine for women. I wonder if you walked into an IKEA store with an undeniable baby bump and attempted to buy the crib, they’d charge you full price until you’d proved your condition with urine? Sounds like a “Curb Your Enthusiasm” plotline. But surely the reasonable, Lagom-touting Swedish people wouldn’t be sticklers like that.
