Favourite throwbacks: a landmark LGBTQIA+ campaign by Ikea

Rich Miles, CEO and founder of The Diversity Standards Collective says an Ikea ad from 1994 set a new standard in how gay characters are portrayed.

This week, our throwback ad is a pick from Rich Miles. It was created by Deutsch NY, and although it is from a very different era, it is notable for its progressive approach.

The 1994 Ikea ‘dining room table’ ad features two gay characters, and was groundbreaking for its time, being one of the first major advertisements by a large company to depict a same-sex couple.

Directed by Leslie Dektor, a renowned commercial director known for his ability to bring authenticity and emotion to storytelling, the ad shows a middle-aged gay couple shopping for a dining room table at Ikea. They talk light-heartedly about their lives together, how they’ve been together for a while, and how they're preparing to host their family for dinner. The tone is casual and relatable, presenting them as any ordinary couple.

Deutsch NY worked with Ikea to position the brand as inclusive and forward-thinking, targeting urban, progressive audiences. This didn’t prevent a backlash from conservative groups and some customers, however. Ikea even received bomb threats, leading some stores to increase security, but the company stood by its decision to air the ad.

Rich’s take

In terms of ads that still work for me now, I picked this one for its early depiction of two gay men, which was radical back in 1994.

In DSC research with the LGBTQIA+ community, we are often asked for more ‘boring’, more ‘everyday’ representation of the community, and this does just that.

The ad doesn’t sensationalise the lives of the two men, they are literally just… choosing a table. Their wardrobe and location haven’t played into anything stereotypical such as loud garish homes or outfits. They’re likeable, and, at the end of the day, it shows the characters as they are: just two regular guys buying a table.