IKEA Debuts New Obama “Empty Chair” Series
IKEA presented a scale replica of a refurbished, revamped Oval Office outfitted with products with their new fall line.
By S.G. Lawrence
STOCKHOLM – Swedish furniture giant IKEA has just released its newest fall line of assemble-it-yourself furniture: the Obama “Empty Chair” Series.
Unsatisfied by the limited success of its 2008 “Embrace the Change” campaign featuring cheap Oval-Office style home furniture, the iconic Scandinavian furniture retailer announced that its “Obama Empty Chairs” would capitalize on Clint Eastwood’s wildly successful metaphor at the Republican National Convention about the empty-suited “not present” Obama.
At a recession-proof price of only $19.99, Ikea shoppers have their choice of 3 basic Obama “Tom Stools” (“tom stool” translates to “empty chair” in Swedish). Stained in red, white and blue, the three stools have already garnered millions of online orders from zipcodes as far away as Gaza City, Ramallah, Cairo and Benghazi.
In interviews with several Ikea shoppers at a suburban mall outside of Washington, DC in College Park, Maryland, TWF learned that most shoppers were opting to purchase the upgraded version of the Obama Empty Chair – the “Ihalig Stool” – which is not due to be released until November 7 and costs $10 more. The Ihalig Stool (which translates to “Hollow, Cavernous or Shallow Chair”) is intended to remain permanently unassembled and left in its box; there are no screws or any other accompanying hardware which might enable the buyer to actually assemble the upgraded empty chair.
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