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Ikea Sofa Advertisement – Fighting is inevitable. At least you’ll spend the night on a comfy

couch.

Maria Carmen R. Leonida

Nightingale College

ENG120-02: English Composition

(Rhetorical Analysis Essay)

Professor Benjamin Solomon

August 19, 2022

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Ikea Sofa Advertisement – Fighting is inevitable. At least you’ll spend the night on a comfy

couch.

Every day, people strive to live a way of comfort. This comfort is becoming

necessary, especially for those who live stressful life. We work hard to earn and make sure that at

the end of the day, we enjoy the comfort of either being alone in our room or spending quality time

with our family. South Florida freelance writer Clark once wrote, "Your home is supposed to be

your solace from the stresses of the outside world" (Clark, n.d.). Moreover, a sofa is one of the

most comfortable areas where people sit or lay to relax after hardships or stress. A recent Ikea

advertisement is trying to challenge this experience of comfort. Ikea is using a marketing strategy

to persuade viewers to buy the sofa despite struggles, like a fighting couple who can still

experience comfort at the end. The tagline Ikea used may not be accepted by religious people or

those that set high regard on morals, but they relate it to the reality that fighting happens. Thus,

Ikea creates a unique advertisement by being an established company, using the color that attracts

the user, and providing real-life strategy as it targets the benefit of comfort of using their product,

even the relationship within its consumers' struggles.

In incorporating ethos into their advertisement, Ikea, a company founded in 1943,

has established its locations in five continents of the world Europe, Asia, Africa, North America,

and Australia (Wikipedia, 2022). For a long time, they have been using a very successful campaign

strategy since shopping in Ikea is not just about the product but about the effect of experiencing

their product (Plytaria, 2020). Morally or religiously, people may not accept this sofa

advertisement due to its tagline, but it does not ignore the reality that fighting is inevitable.

Therefore, they offer their sofa to still experience comfort even after any fight. It is not about

buying the product but the experience after owning it (Plytaria, 2020).
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As Ikea further include pathos in their marketing strategy, they use an image of the

bright red sofa with a yellow background (Genchin, 2020). The bright red stands out with the

yellow background, which is Ikea's carrying color, as evident in their logo. The color red can send

two meanings: fierce or anger, but it can also be love. Ikea did a fantastic creation of using this

strategy of color to advertise their product and match how the people will experience after owning

this sofa. This would make the user envision the impact of this furniture as they decided to bring

it home. Added to the colors is the tagline that Ikea uses "Fighting is inevitable. At least you'll

spend the night on a comfy couch" (Genchin, 2020). It is visible that the advertisement is creating

an emotional connection with its targeted consumer.

Logically, Ikea uses a marketing strategy according to their consumers' real-life

facts. Ikea's designers gather its target market's concerns and feedback directly from the consumer's

houses to use a more proactive strategy (Dudovskiy, 2019). Reality is way better to use as a

reference when there is a need to attract a market and sell one's product. As Ikea's tagline, it cannot

be separated from the fact that fighting is inevitable. Getting real-life feedback can also reflect the

cost-conscious customers as they spend their money for the bang, thus giving Ikea wide options to

provide low-cost pricing. Surveys or data may impact reality as it could pose more of a reactive

reaction than a proactive one (Dudovskiy, 2019).

Morally or religiously, I may disagree with the advertisement of Ikea as the tagline

they use, "Fighting is inevitable," opposes my principle. However, I must believe it is the reality.

Ikea uses the fact for marketing this product. People fight, siblings fight, couples fight, and even

friends fight. No one can deny the reality of fighting within relationships. So, do I choose to enjoy

the comfort of Ikea's sofa even after the relationship distress? It made me decide that I will. I would

rather enjoy the comfort of my furniture in my own house after conflicts than sleep outside and
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experience further inconvenience. I also like that Ikea can relate to my possible emotions in this

advertisement, such as anger or love. Thus, Ikea made a creative way to market this sofa as it made

me ponder the reality of life and how a piece of simple furniture can contribute to ease this example

of discomfort in life.

In my conclusion, the reality is evident, people fight. Furthermore, Ikea made a

creative way of advertising their sofa by showing the fact that fighting is inevitable but can still

experience comfort after. Ikea's use of bright red color in their sofa matches the emotion of their

target consumer. Morally or religious people may not accept their tagline, "Fighting is inevitable.

At least you will spend the night on a comfy couch", but Ikea made an advertisement that will

persuade people to think, "Does this sofa going to make me feel comfortable?" or "I need to make

a fight with my love one first before I feel comfort?" Whatever the answer will make the

advertisement catches the eye of the consumer. Being an established company, Ikea uses color to

connect with their consumer emotionally and provides a real-life strategy to create a unique

advertisement as it targets the benefit of comfort of using their product, even the relationship within

its consumers' struggles.

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References

Clark, A. (n.d.). How Furniture Can Benefit Your Overall Being.

https://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/how-furniture-can-benefit-your-overall-

being.html

Genchin, S. (2020, February 4). IKEA Fighting is Inevitable. Miami Ad School.

https://www.adsoftheworld.com/campaigns/fighting-is-inevitable

Wikipedia. (2022, July 28). IKEA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKEA

Plytaria, M. (2020, February 27). IKEA’s «Fighting is Inevitable» campaign.

https://marisofipl.wordpress.com/2020/02/27/ikeas-fighting-is-inevitable-campaign/

Dudovskiy, J. (2019, November 17). IKEA Marketing Strategy: a brief overview.

https://research-methodology.net/ikea-marketing-strategy/