No strangers to digging into current affairs to sell its products, the Singapore outpost of furniture giant IKEA has chimed in about the recent (and downright wacky) case that involved a man dismantling a metal bench from a bus stop to furnish his new flat.
Earlier this week, the nation had a proper chuckle about news of a 22-year-old man who was sentenced to a week in detention for his bizarre misdeed. In June last year, Tan Ke Wei unscrewed the bolts of a bus stop bench with his hands and brought it back home. When queried by the cops, he claimed that he simply wanted to check its dimensions — the man was intending to renovate his new flat with a design based on an integrated bus stop. Wew, lad.
A case that’s perfectly primed for the marketing team behind Swedish home furnishing brand to jump on, and they did. Yesterday, they put up a post promoting their grey INDUSTRIELL bench that can be bought flat-packed, with “no dismantling required”. Compared to the $1,500 price point of the bus stop bench (yeah, it really costs that much, according to the Land Transport Authority), IKEA’s $159 bench is a steal. Figuratively speaking.
In fact, IKEA had a field day responding to folks with quips and suggestions on other products to purchase should they, like poor ol’ Tan, wanted a bus stop-inspired aesthetic in their homes.
