Home-shaming grime ornaments star in Ikea's first-ever UK Christmas ad
In Ikea’s first-ever UK Christmas ad, a family is taunted by their kitsch ornaments who spit bars that encourage them to defy ‘home shame.’
Ikea's first Christmas advert encourages the nation to defy home shame
Tapping into contemporary culture, the ad flies the flag for grime music that has recently made a resurgence by entering into mainstream music for the first time. And who better to have on board than an artist that Skepta hailed as “the greatest grime MC of all time” – D Double E, who voices the gimcrack ornaments.
The ad opens with a couple sat in their open-plan flat, minding their own business, until the mother receives a text that reads ‘dinner at yours tonight?’
With a lump in her throat she looks around, filled with ‘home shame’ at the state of her surroundings. There are cracks on the wall and toys all over the floor - the flat looks like it need a right good sprucing up.
Eerily, a kitsch bunny jugs top turns around to face her, spitting D Double E’s ad-lib “Bu Da Bup Bup.” The bunny glares at them and raps “I must confess, this place ain't blessed! This place is a mess.”
“Bu Da Bup Bup,” enters an ornate damsel swimming off a Cuckoo clock, telling them “You don’t deserve no guests! In here? In here? I don’t want to lay down no rest.”
The couple continues to be taunted by the Grime rapping objects, who work to fill them with ‘home shame.’
A maneki-neko beckoning cat tells them “that crack in the wall needs addressing” while an African-style mask shouts, “the state of the floor is just depressing.”
As a toy dinosaur folds its arms and tells them “this is very, very, very unacceptable” the couple look at each other, stand up and take action by sorting it.
To ‘silence the critics,' they put the toys away, and begin sprucing up their home with simple Ikea solutions. They add a new mirror to replace the old one with shrouded glass, they add a cool sleek lamp, and together they roll out a new rug to cover the dank wooden floorboards.
They cover the cracks with paintings, add bright pillows, a table and chairs until the place is almost unrecognisable. The final voiceover says: “silence the critics. Ikea – the wonderful everyday.”
The campaign will launch with the film across broadcast and VOD TV, cinema and digital media. The 90”, 60” and 20” edits are fully supported with out-of-home, press, CRM and PR.
Discussing the launch of the campaign, Ikea's UK and Ireland county marketing manager, Sarah Green, commented: “Our first Ikea Christmas advert focuses on the phenomenon of ‘home shame’ - encouraging people to overcome the negative voices in their head holding them back from open up their homes.
“It was born from the common feeling, that along with the seasonal joys, a lot of us feel a looming sense of dread when it comes to hosting others with many of us feel ashamed of our homes over the Christmas period.
She added: “We believe that every home can and should be worthy of a get-together and that with a little imagination, some clever products and ideas, there’s no reason not to be proud to invite your nearest and dearest over. This campaign aims to inspire us all to get our homes party-ready and ‘Silence the Critics’, once and for all.”
