IKEA was recently seen promoting rainbow carrier bag in conjunction with Pride Month being celebrated across the United States.
The poster (pictured below) pledged to donate 30% of its sales from Storstomma bags collection in support of the LGBTQ community. The donation is intended to provide housing and healthcare services to 2 charities.
Twitter user @azhari_ulya sparked controversy when she called on her followers to boycott the furniture retail company for standing in solace with the LGBTQ community. “Does Ikea want to see that Malaysians have the power to boycott? Take down this poster or we will buy nothing from you @Ikea. From: Malaysian (sic),” Ulya Azhari threatened.
She deleted the initial tweet but re-uploaded a screenshot following backlash from netizens. “You want to bash me, go ahead. You want to condemn me, go ahead,” the Malaysian woman challenged.
Many locals felt that Ulya was stirring the pot over something trivial, especially when the Storstomma bags aren’t even sold in Malaysia. In case you didn’t know, the colourful item is only available in the United States, Europe, Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Others also brought up the fact that IKEA was helping charities that are committed in helping vulnerable communities. “The Los Angeles LGBT Centre provides a home for queer kids that were thrown out from their homes because of prejudice. Causes like this one by Ikea is to make sure a child or young adult is safe and taken care of,” wrote @sunfloweraidil.
However, Ulya replied that “not all good deeds are correct” and insisted that IKEA’s initiative is the same as “stealing”. She said, “This is just like stealing to help a poor person. What’s wrong will always be wrong.”
Nak bantu kanak2 dan sebagainya? Benda tu baik. siapa kata tak baik? Tapi ia satu sisi yg lain, banyak lagi jalan lain utk bantu golongan kanak-kanak dan golongan tertindas. Tak perlu beri dana pada centre LGBT utk bantu mereka. Cari jalan lain.
— Ulya Azhari (@azhari_ulya) July 4, 2020
https://twitter.com/azhari_ulya/status/1279809625982787584
Ironically, her Instagram account preaches that “it costs nothing to be kind and humble”…
