How Ikea edits its catalogues to suit each country… from Photoshopping women out to making kitchens SMALLER
The Ikea catalogue is one of the world's most widely distributed books across the globe – but it seems that each edition is very different and edited depending on the country
A SELECTION of photos show how the Ikea catalogue is heavily Photoshopped according to which country it is being distributed in.
The Ikea catalogue is one of the world's most widely distributed books across the globe – but it seems that each edition is very different and edited depending on the country.
For example, this year the Swedish furniture giant has removed all women from family scenes in an Israeli version of its catalogue - and it has also been known to do for Saudi Arabia.
According to , Ikea released 203 million copies of its iconic catalogue at the end of July, with 72 different editions depending on their targeted region.
The painstaking process of editing the different versions takes a whopping 18 months to complete and requires clever Photoshopping to get everything just right.
First, ethnographers visit real homes across the globe to research the domestic life in each region.
Then, having already shot the furniture, the photos are edited to match their target audience.
Approximately 35 per cent of items, such as ovens and kitchen appliances, are computer-generated.
Martin Enthed, an Ikea marketing executive wrote for the : “A kitchen in the US will look very different to a kitchen in Japan, for example, or in Germany.
“So you need lots of different layouts in order to localise the kitchen area in brochures.”
For example, in this year’s catalogue, the US kitchen has been made to look much larger than the one featured in the Chinese edition – but both show the same model and are posed in the same style.
In February, a special edition was also released for the Orthodox Jewish community in Isreal, featuring men and boys, but no women or girls.
The snaps also show the males studying religious material.
A spokesperson for Ikea in Israel told : “The Ikea catalogue distributed in Israel looks the same as the Ikea catalogue in all other markets around the world, containing images of women, men and children.
“In February, the local Israeli organisation distributed a brochure, customised specifically for the Haredi community in an attempt to reach this minority community in Israel.
“We will make sure that future publications will reflect what Ikea stands for and at the same time show respect for the Haredi community.”
Editions released in Saudi Arabia have also been known to remove women from the ads, notably in 2011 and 2012.
Ikea later apologised for these editions and released a statement online, it read: “We regret the current situation.
“We should have reacted and realised that excluding women from the Saudi Arabian version of the catalogue is in conflict with the Ikea Group values.”
Previously, we revealed how people are making clothes out of IKEA’s iconic blue bag after high end designer Balenciaga “copied” the iconic IKEA Frakta bag.