IKEA Bahrain’s ‘gaffe’ in Arabic text on poster outside store has netizens in splits

Responding to the 'gaffe', the Swedish company quickly put up a new and improved poster, hilariously taking a jibe at itself.

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People have been divided over the IKEA Bahrain store's move, wondering if it was a mistake but nonetheless loved the company's clever response.

A poster outside an IKEA store in Bahrain has left netizens in splits after a ‘translation gaffe’ in its advertisement took social media by storm. But the store’s clever response owning up to its ‘mistake’ has equally won the internet.

Photos doing the rounds online showed the poster at the new IKEA store with an English tagline that read “create your perfect night’s sleep”. However, the Arabic line underneath the English line in the signboard didn’t convey the same message as it read: “Same but in Arabic”.

Passersby quickly took note and started to post the picture on multiple social media platforms tagging the company, notifying about the ‘mistake’ and sharing jokes about the ‘error’.

For those getting confused, I am talking about the Arabic copy under, ‘Create your perfect night’s sleep’ and not the copy under ‘IKEA’ ,😂😂😂

— Sneha (@FlirtingKaapi) August 20, 2020

Responding to the incident, the Swedish company quickly put up a new and improved poster, hilariously taking a jibe at itself. Sharing an image of the corrected poster put outside their store, the company wrote: “This is what happens when you don’t get a good night’s sleep,” and excused themselves. “Enjoy your perfect sleep,” the poster added.

هذا إلّي يصير اذا ما نمت زين…
استمتع بنومك المثالي. pic.twitter.com/p6VHRDqYKI

— IKEA BAHRAIN (@IKEABH) August 20, 2020

While some thought it was an intentional move to get all the attention in town, many believed that the it was indeed a mistake. However, they loved the fact that the brand reacted to it quickly, showing that it was willing to poke some fun at itself.

Ikea wins pic.twitter.com/mlsV0QPuwN

— خليفه العماري (@KhalifaAlAmmari) August 20, 2020

“ This is what happens when u don’t get enough sleep.. enjoy perfect night sleep”
IKEA Bahrain fixed it … Dumb mistake turned into a genius marketing opportunity. Well played 👀 pic.twitter.com/Tg7EzBCQgY

— PoromaPant (@PoromaPant) August 20, 2020

Even if this is a publicity stunt, I don’t care, because it’s perfect

— Ashleigh Stewart (@Ash_Stewart_) August 20, 2020

Sweet intentional marketing!

— Himanshu Khanna (@SparklinGuy) August 20, 2020

If @IKEAUSANews was smart I would run with it and have fun with a whole social/digital campaign.

— Deadra Rahaman (@DeadraRahaman) August 20, 2020

Whoa. Looks like the translator literally translated the cue that the original copywriter left for them! 😂

— Meera Sapra (@meerasapra) August 20, 2020

And this happened too. It is literally, letter by letter the same text as on the top of the board, but the font changed to cyrillic alphabet pic.twitter.com/xXklVc5Htl

— szɐloᴝᴝa (@szalonna) August 21, 2020

That made it on the building. Geez. pic.twitter.com/5KYFO9xPbR

— Julianna Abena (@my_julianna) August 21, 2020

I hope this is on purpose. Since it’s in Arabic, that suggests someone somewhere or something actually read the text. Why doesn’t it say those words in English? Just don’t know how this specific mistake would get made.

— Jessica Alonso (@jessicamalonso) August 20, 2020

If its on purpose, its a genius move! If it isn’t, they better make it look like it was on purpose 😄

— Rohit Bharati (@vividBharati) August 20, 2020

Props to its creator, because now it’s gone viral & will get publicity worth tens of thousands of dollars for free!

— X Æ A-12 Cov-19 (@k0ol1) August 20, 2020

Sweet intentional marketing!

— Himanshu Khanna (@SparklinGuy) August 20, 2020

I have definitely had clients who told me “oh I’ll add the real copy later.” and never did, releasing a website or ad with big ol blocks of “Lorem Ipsum…” Yay for editors.

— MaskBadger (@BrassBadger) August 20, 2020