Sina Haghighi, who speaks Persian, saw the ad in several places in the city and reacted.
– Doesn’t look like Ikea spoke to someone who actually knows Persian but just used Google Translate, says Sina Haghighi at the GPafter discovering the miss.
Advertisements on Gothenburg’s trams are meant to welcome the new large furniture store, but according to Sina Haghighi, they translate to “Ica” in Kållered. The Persian text is translated in its entirety: “Nya Ica Kållered. Finally opened.
However, Ikea disagrees with him. Mattias Hennius, press officer at Ikea, believes that this is not a typo.
– I spoke to our Persian translator who assures that it is possible to spell Ikea as we did, he says.
The furniture giant’s latest department store opened on May 25, 2023 in Kållered, just south of Gothenburg.
Photo: Press photo.
As Ikea is not an established word in the Persian language, the translator made the assessment that it is possible to spell the word as it is pronounced and then landed on the word Ica. It’s an interpretation that Mattias Hennius is comfortable with. He also doesn’t believe billboards will be misunderstood.
– It’s pretty obvious which brand it is from the colors and the logo. The ad is designed to work in Sweden, he said to GP.
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