"Smiling makes the day go quicker"
This advertisement is at once bizarre and telling of Russian advertisements as we have experienced them throughout the course. While it begins with a young boy screaming at a poster in his room, it transforms into a cheerful family endeavor to redecorate (with items from IKEA, of course) in an image of what the happy, modern Russian family might look like. There is the quintessential grandmother, two parents, and two adorable children. (One of whom is going through a punk rock stage in her teens.) The use of Western music and clearly Western clothing choices as the teenager basks in the awesomeness of her wardrobe is a fantastic read into the lifestyle that IKEA wants to present to its Russian consumers – buy our wardrobes and fill them with plaid and jeans. This is hip, this is cool, this is modernity. Even the amount of actual stuff featured in the commercial – see the ending scene where the two children are surrounded by all the material comforts of their childhood – is telling for what it promotes as norms of this new consumer culture that the Russian middle class is now buying into.
Jenna Louie
Tankus the Henge. "IKEA advert Russia/Россия - Smiling Makes The Day Go Quicker." Youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8H5qwDOp7I.
February 26, 2012.
Recommended opening date
The image here is an illustration for an article detailing the memoir published by the former head of IKEA’s Russian Operations, Lennart Dahlgren. Originally from Sweden, Ms. Dalhgren was tasked with the entry of the company into the Russian market in the early 1990s but was beset by misfortune (the collapse of the Soviet Union and the liquidation of the ruble when the government defaulted on payments) until finally opening at store, then the first MEGA mall, in 2000 and 2002 respectively. [1] He chronicles his experience of doing so in his book, and warns against buying into the myths or stereotypes that one may have heard about Russia. The reality, he says, is so much different than what you could have imagined. “Those who call themselves Russia experts usually don’t understand the first thing about it,” writes Dahlgren. “People who say they don’t know much about Russia come much closer to understanding it.” [2]
Fascinatingly, although the book has only been published in two languages (Russian and Swedish) it has been titled differently in each. In Russia, one finds “IKEA loves Russia: a story of leadership, passion and perseverance.” In Sweden one finds, “Despite Absurdity: How I Conquered Russia While It Conquered Me.”
[1] Dahlgren, Lennart, and 2010. “The Basics of Doing Business in Russia.” Harvard Business Review. Accessed May 5, 2014. http://blogs.hbr.org/2010/10/the-basics-of-doing-business-i/.
[2] Svetlana Smetanina. “Living in Russia as a Foreigner: The Memoirs of Former Ikea Boss Reveal an Unusual Truth.” Accessed May 5, 2014. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/rbth/opinion/8478418/Living-in-Russia-as-a-foreigner-the-memoirs-of-former-Ikea-boss-reveal-an-unusual-truth.html.
Jenna Louie
Niyaz Kaim. "The memoirs of former Ikea boss in Russia reveal an unusual truth." Image.
Part of article by Svetlana Smetanina. “Living in Russia as a Foreigner: The Memoirs of Former Ikea Boss Reveal an Unusual Truth.” Accessed May 5, 2014. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/rbth/opinion/8478418/Living-in-Russia-as-a-foreigner-the-memoirs-of-former-Ikea-boss-reveal-an-unusual-truth.html.
2006
On sale at IKEA
The items for sale in this photo are ones that portray an easy, affluent lifestyle – the garden chair, popsicle stick molds, fake fruit trees, glass Tupperware containers. The items are featured in bright colors and shining plastic and metals, signs of a bright modern household for the rising Russian middle class who aspires to this image of modernity. Russia’s negotiation with commercial goods from the West has a fascinating history, from the import of foodstuffs and cultural items in the Imperial era to the craze over Pepsi and blue jeans during the latter years of Soviet Rule. In the last twenty years since the fall of the Soviet Union goods have taken on a new importance as a sign of social status and the caché of new prosperity and generational change. A decade ago IKEA stepped into the void between the ostentatious purchases and extreme wealth of the New Russian oligarchs and the continued (supposedly) impoverished masses to provide goods for a rising class of people looking to define themselves anew through consumer goods. With clean, simple furniture that can be adapted in a multitude of ways to suit personal style and needs, IKEA has done just that.
Jenna Louie
"Место под солнцем." Ikea Russia. Accessed May 5, 2014. http://www.ikea.com/ru/ru/.
May 5, 2014
Welcome to the New Russia
Featuring the bold statement, “Welcome to the New Russia,” this cartoon illustration depicts the imagined skyscrapers (in tandem with the ever-present spires of Saint Basil’s Cathedral) in Moscow’s Khimki Park region where IKEA Russia has recently invested millions to develop a new state of the art business complex. Featured here are all of the accoutrements of modern technology and transport – a plane, helicopter, satellite, radio transmitter, automobile, truck – which suggest that these are all envisioned as part of this “new” Russia that IKEA is helping to build. Additionally, the illustration points out the commercial success of IKEA’s stores across the Russian state, mentioning the 466 billion Euros of retail turnover in 2011. Yet this impressive figure is simply one facet within the larger scheme of IKEA’s presence as the largest commercial shopping center operator in the country. In total, the cartoon portrays IKEA’s self-visioning as an integral part of the wave of modernization and commercialization taking place in Moscow today.
Jenna Louie
“About IKEA Shopping Centers Russia.” Сайт Торговых Центров МЕГА. Accessed April 10, 2014. http://megamall.ru/en/company/.
2000
IKEA Russia storefront
This image portrays a somewhat romantic ideal of one of IKEA’s parking lots outside of a megastore as it sits lit up at night, a bright beacon of commerce. Reading more closely, the focus of the image on a parking lot in the first place suggests that having a car is an essential part of coming to shop at IKEA, which in turn connotes a certain level of affluence and lifestyle to the experience as well. And it is a surprisingly idyllic photo for an image of nothing else besides a parking lot against the twilight sky. Taken from a Russian news page, I suggest that this is likely a stock photo that has made its rounds through the Russian media at some point or another, and as such is representative of one way that Russians conceptualize the store and its brand – to take a cue from Fitzgerald, this is not the vanishing green light at the end of a dock but rather thousands of beaming white lights signaling the arrival of the future out of the darkening sky.
Jenna Louie
Vera Manykina. "Kalashnikov Machine Gun Found in IKEA Locker." Russia-IC. Accessed January 1, 2014. http://russia-ic.com/news/show/17943#.U2eVDK1dWlN.
January 29, 2014
IKEA Moscow
A fascinating illustration, the clearly photoshopped image here depicts the iconic “IKEA” logo in the Cyrillic alphabet (as it is used in Russia) supporting the spires and domes of the famous Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. It is important to note that the image comes from the Swedish architectural firm Synk Architekture, who seemingly designed the first megastore that IKEA opened in Moscow in 2000. Thus, one might read this image as a bold statement portraying how the Swedish conceptualize IKEA figuratively supporting Russian traditions and the idea of “Russianness” itself. Indeed the hazy blue background, making the colors of the IKEA logo and the domes of Saint Basil’s more visible in relief, gestures to the standalone nature of the illustration – IKEA and Russia are in it together, making the architectural firm’s work that much more essential and important.
Jenna Louie
Synk Arkitektur. "Ikea Moscow." Image. Accessed May 5, 2014. http://www.synkark.se/2010/01/ikea-moscow/.
May 5, 2014