even funnier on the heels of the post about the nature of subconscious cultural aesthetic values, is this bit from ikea perfectly exemplifying what i like to call a “lifestyle slur“:

“Brightens up your grad’s dorm. Unlike a creepy gothic roommate, who can be a bad influence.”

….. all it takes to ward off the influence of bad poetry and clove cravings is funky colored scandinavian pillows?

this is amazing! djarum isn’t gonna know what hit it.

really, ikea! what are you thinking? even the goth students need cute pre-fab dorm room furniture, and instead of trying to figure out how you can get in on that sort of demand (hint: modified decor color palette) you deliberately hang a “no blacks” sign in your ad?

now you’ve gone and done it, ikea. there’s apparently already a tempest brewing in the goth online teacup, with folks sending out emails to their community mailing lists and including the contact info for ikea’s customer relations and social responsibility contacts. (maybe this could be a useful political activism strategy? just tie policy into lifestyle as opposed to social justice and people will get all caring about your shit and everything?)

anyway, ikea, let this be a lesson to you:

you don’t have to agree to EVERY snarky idea some hipster jr. advertising associate pulls out of his butt.