When we think of IKEA, we think of its famed meatballs, iconic blue shopping bags, and minimalist furniture. However, a recent video has made the furniture store the centre of a different kind of attention in China.
Posted on Chinese social media is a video that showed a woman masturbating on several furniture at an IKEA store while people shopped in the background, unaware of what was happening, AFP reported. The video has since been taken down, but not before netizens reposted screenshots.
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It was so viral that IKEA released a statement on May 9, saying that it “resolutely opposes and condemns this kind of behaviour” and urged shoppers to “browse stores in an orderly and civilised way.”
The furniture company did not identify where and when the video was taken, but did say that they have reported the incident to the city’s police. Some speculate that it happened in Guangzhou City, south China, as the woman was heard speaking Cantonese in the video.
Meanwhile, other netizens noted that patrons were not wearing face masks in the video, which means it was likely filmed before the coronavirus outbreak.
IKEA also said that it will be “more careful” when it comes to security and public cleanliness.
Many supported IKEA’s response to the video.
“It’s right to call the police! IKEA was always a family-friendly furniture store, but now its reputation is damaged,” reads one comment.
“This woman deserves to go to jail. Her image is completely ruined. Such an eyesore,” said another netizen.
In China, intentional public nudity may warrant a detention of five to 10 days. According to a Beijing-based legal expert, the woman in the IKEA video may face a three-year prison sentence for disturbing public order or assembled pruriency, Global Times reported.
This isn’t the first time people have been caught doing dirty deeds in a popular chain store. In 2015, a couple was arrested for recording a sex tape in the fitting room of a Uniqlo store in Beijing.
