IKEA Russia storefront

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