IKEA has gone fully kitsch in a campaign done for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain announcing the 70% sale - as someone who is very much into that aesthetic, I have no problem swallowing it. Apparently the whole campaign has been done for IKEA Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and involves specifically homes from that region done and redone to the max. Now, here's the problem.
Who is the campaign talking to? Obviously to locals. The line? "Don't let furniture wear you".
OK, as someone heavily versed into copyrighting, I can tell you this line is not transposable into Arabic. Which makes me wonder how the locals will react to such a campaign when the punchline is not even in their own language.
To be clear, and this is not some sort of cultural judgement, Saudi Arabian learn basically Arabic and nothing else at school. I was in Saudi and a man asked me for help - he was unable to retrieve money from the ATM. Why? I was unable to punch the numbers of his card or the correct command options.
So the campaign leaves me a bit confused as to the target audience. As if there was a disconnect somewhere.