“Peeing on this ad may change your life,” promises IKEA in their latest advertisement running in Swedish women’s magazine Amelia.
The ad, created by Swedish agency Åkestam Holst in collaboration with Mercene Labs, shows an image of a crib, its retail price and it also happens to be a pregnancy test.
“Pee on the marked area and wait a moment. If you are expecting, you will get a surprise right here in the ad.”
At the bottom of the page is a rectangular box where readers are expected to urinate on.
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“In order to make the interactive functions of this ad work in reality, we had to make several technical advancements,” Åkestam Holst said in a statement.
“The pregnancy test strip was used as a starting point, which relies on antibodies that bind to the pregnancy hormone hCG, resulting in a colour change. For scaling up of this technique and adopting it to the physical format of a printed ad, Mercene Labs has used their experience in development of surface active materials for microfluidics and medical diagnostics.”
If the test is positive, a few minutes later, a special discounted “family price” will appear on the page.
It’s not clear if customers are required to bring the pee-soaked paper to IKEA in order to redeem it.
The ad is not yet available in North America.
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