Whenever I buy something from IKEA — a bookshelf for the kids, a storage unit for the basement — the domestic bliss that was promised in the pages of the Swedish company’s catalogue gets shattered before too long. “It’s broken,” my husband will complain as the simple instruction manual mocks us. A few hours later, possibly with glue, the “broken” set is complete, but the stress and annoyance last much longer.
That latent outrage towards IKEA must be shared universally. It’s one way to explain why so many global critics blamed the company for airbrushing out all the women in the Saudi Arabian version of its catalogue, a move made to satisfy the Saudi monarchy’s gender segregation rules. The scrubbing of the catalogue gave new meaning to the term “gone, baby, gone.” IKEA accepted the blame, citing a communications breakdown with its local franchise. But that explanation makes the whole controversy feel like merely a mistake. And it lets Saudi Arabia off the hook. IKEA’s real fault isn’t adhering to the government’s rules; it’s failing to use the furor over the catalogue to expose — and sharply condemn — the singular rigidity of the Saudi monarchy. IKEA should have named and shamed.
Comments
Why do people get all worked up about IKEA airbrushing a female model out of a catalog so as not to offend the Muslims of Saudi Arabia while they don't get equally irate over the fact that American troops are losing their lives and limbs propping up various other Muslim governments that are just as misogynistic as the Saudis? We need to airbrush the American Armed Forces out of all these countries. It is morally and ethically reprehensible that they should be sent to fight in the service of a culture that is the antithesis of everything America stands for.
It's one thing to write about this and make the statement of hw unfair it all is. (And it's good you DO write about it.) But the cat has been out of the bag for many years now, and women STILL shop at Ikea, STILL honor Muslims in one way or another, and simply do not band together and strike back at the unfairness. What are you waiting for? Men to do it? Want to make it stop, write, THEN take a stand! Ready go.
send Sandra Fluke over to Saudi Arabia and she can tell them what women are entitled to and free.
The Saudi monarchy does this to appease the hard-line Islamists who are destined to replace them as Saudi Ariabia's next autocratic government. These gender segregation policies just buy them a little more time, postponing the inevitable.
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How would you like to be a women's fashion designer in Saudia Arabia? "And Madame, what shade of black would you prefer? And how wide would you like your eye slits?"
I cannot imagine an international company making political statements in a catalog especially in an ultra-conservative country where they're trying to sell products. How naive, in fact silly, to think that Ikea would protest against the values deeply established in Saudi Arabia while investing their money to promote their business. I'm sure they would be expelled immediately. I'm disappointed that this kind of writing appeared in the Globe. The right-wingers out there, especially on rage radio, will certainly use this to attack the "liberal" Globe's agenda and to describe what kind of readership the Globe appeals to.
Of course, why would a business take an ethical stand? After all, it's all about the MONEY! What was that line about not being able to worship both G!d and mamon?
I agree to some extent with fordfalcon. The purpose of business is to make money, not enforce the social mores of a particular society -- at least not if they intend to be welcome and to sell products in other countries.
Of course, businesses are run by people and those people can include their egocentric mores in their business plan, but they have to be willing to accept a loss of business. Expecting businesses to be confrontational is unrealistic.
Certainly Saudis have a different view of the place of women than do I, and I can be freely critical, but I'm not trying to sell them anything.
When you vote for Democrats, you vote to put the neck of women under the boot of fascists. Discover why that is true and wake-up.
You sound ridiculous... as usual.
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