IKEA apologizes for selling map that's missing New Zealand
Ikea found itself in hot water after it was discovered that a world map poster being sold by the Swedish furniture company was missing one key thing – the country of New Zealand.
The glaring omission went viral after it was posted on Reddit subreddit – MapsWithoutNZ – dedicated to highlighting this sort of error. A user uploaded a photo of the map last week, which was first spotted in an IKEA store in Washington, D.C. However, it appears to have been sold at locations around the world.
The error was not lost on Twitter users, who took to the social media platform to point out the mistake:
IKEA aren’t a fan of New Zealand pic.twitter.com/wbVe5K7kTj
— Chloe Bacon (@ChloeBacon8) February 10, 2019
New Zealand: *exists*
Ikea: pic.twitter.com/9cUFSenDYq— Avon DeRussate (@avon_deer) February 8, 2019
I hear #IKEA is coming to New Zealand…..how the heck will they find us???!!!!
— Shez (@SherWenzlick) February 9, 2019
You must assemble New Zealand yourself.https://t.co/BLLXWTeqV1
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) February 8, 2019
Maybe IKEA thinks New Zealand is in middle earth so it doesn't need to be displayed on the map.😂 pic.twitter.com/grVqZwxjYu
— Connie (@CigarSenorita) February 13, 2019
IKEA was quick to respond, apologizing for the error and promising to phase the erroneous map out of its stores.
“IKEA is responsible for securing correct and compliant motifs on all of our products. We can see that the process has failed regarding the product BJÖRKSTA world map,” the company said in a statement to the BBC.
“We regret this mistake and apologize. We will take the necessary actions and the product is now being phased out from our stores.”
As of Friday morning, customers could still purchase the incorrect map, along with a silver-frame, on the IKEA Canada website for $69.99.
Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.