12512 IKEA Catalog in Saudi Arabia Removed Some Women - WSJcom

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By ANNA MOLIN

STOCKHOLMmdashRepresentatives for Swedish furniture giant IKEA on Monday

apologized for removing women from some of the photos in catalogs shipped to

Saudi Arabia and said the blame lies squarely with them not the local franchisee

The move to manipulate photos sparked criticism from government officials in

Sweden and raised questions about how IKEA is living up to its own values

IKEAs catalog is shipped all over the

world with the company this year

expected to publish 200 million copies

with 62 different versions The bulk of the

catalog is exactly the same in most

markets but the company has said in

the past it tailors the images to suit

fashion-related tastes of local markets

In some cases however the catalog is

changed to align with cultural standards

A comparison of the Saudi catalog to a standard version of the catalog showed that

several women photographed in the standard version are missing from pages of the

Saudi version Otherwise the photos throughout the catalog appear to be virtually

identical

The discrepancy was reported earlier by Metro a free newspaper in Stockholm

Ikea

A woman photographed in the standard version of the IKEA catalog left is missing from pages of theSaudi version right

IKEA apologized for removing women from someof the photos in catalogs shipped to Saudi Arabiaand said the blame lies squarely with them notthe local franchisee Dow Joness Anna Molinreports Photo Ikea

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IKEA Homes Minus the Women

Compare a photo from the Saudi IKEAcatalog and a standard version

A spokeswoman for Inter IKEA Systems BV ndash the arm of IKEA that oversees all

franchisees including the companys three Saudi Arabia storesmdashsaid the move is in

conflict with company values and IKEA is reviewing its procedures as a result

Were deeply sorry for what has happened Ulrika Englesson Sandman said Its not

the local franchisee that has removed the photos The error has occurred in the

process of producing the proposal to Saudi Arabia and that is ultimately our

responsibility

The company is investigating why a

decision to omit some women in its

proposal for the Saudi catalog was

taken and said it would look into whether

digital revisions could be made in

hindsight

Ms Englesson Sandman said the

omissions were completely needless

since Saudi Arabia doesnt prohibit

women from being depicted in marketing

material We understand why people

are upset she said

Saudi Arabia is often criticized for treatment of women that includes forbidding travel

study or work without permission from their male guardians Saudi Arabia also

prohibits women from driving a car

As a producer of the catalog we regret the current situation Ylva Magnusson

spokeswoman for IKEA Group an Inter IKEA Systems affiliate that runs 298 of 337

IKEA stores world-wide and is responsible for the catalog said We should have

reacted and realized that excluding women from the Saudi Arabian version of the

catalog is in conflict with the IKEA Group values

IKEA Group operates most IKEA franchises but not the ones in Saudi Arabia

Ms Magnusson said the company is reviewing its routines to ensure that the different

versions of the IKEA catalogs correspond to its antidiscrimination and human-rights

policies

We encourage fair treatment and equal employment opportunities without regard to

race ethnicity religion gender disability age or sexual orientation she said

The retailer has long aimed to avoid the political spotlight but has had difficulty

steering clear of scrutiny given the size of its operation and the amount of countries it

does business in

You cannot remove or retouch women out of reality Swedish trade minister Ewa

Bjorling said in an email If women arent allowed to be seen or work then Saudi

Arabia is losing half of its intellectual capital Ms Bjorling said the images are another

sad example that show there is a long way to go in terms of equality between women

and men in Saudi Arabia

IKEAs catalogs are one of the companys primary marketing materials In recent

years IKEA has changed the way it creates many of the pages in its catalog

abandoning traditional photo shoots in some cases in favor of purely digital design

This enables easier manipulation of photos so designers can for instance switch

colors in a room to meet the tastes of a local market or remove a vase of flowers

from a table

In the standard version of the new catalog one photo features a woman wearing

pajamas and standing in the bathroom with a young boy next to her and a man

kneeling behind while wrapping another young boy in a towel But in the Saudi catalog

the woman has disappeared from the picture leaving only what looks like a father and

his sons in the bathroom

In another picture a woman standing in the middle of a room surrounded by IKEAs

new colorful design collection has been erased from the Saudi version of the catalog

leaving only men in the room Some pictures featuring women have also been

removed completely from the catalog or replaced with other pictures though not all

women and girls have been wiped out

Photos IKEA

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This is the second time in less than two weeks that IKEAs marketing photos have

stirred political controversy

The company looking to avoid a potential political fallout on Sept 21 deleted a photo

from its Russian corporate Web page showing four young people in balaclavas that

could have been viewed as a gesture of support for three jailed members of Russian

punk group Pussy Riot The deleted photo was part of a Russian marketing campaign

that included a photo competition in Russian MEGA shopping malls which receive

about 200 million visitors per year

mdashSven Grundberg contributed to this article

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