IKEA builds Syrian conflict home in store for Red Cross fundraising campaign
Howard Lake | 7 November 2016 | News
IKEA Norway last month recreated a Syrian apartment in its flagship store to offer its customers an immersive experience and insight into daily live for a family living in the Syrian civil war.
The room, 25m² in Syria, was part of the annual NRK Telethon appeal, which this year was raising funds for the Norwegian Red Cross.
The damaged room in IKEA Slependen was built from cinder block with sparse home comforts or possessions, clearly designed to clash with the many IKEA products elsewhere in the store. It was based on a real home outside Damascus in Syria, the home of Rana and her family of nine.
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25m² in Syria
The posters and price tags around the room tell the story of how people are living and surviving in the Syrian civil war. On every little tag the Red Cross explained how shoppers could help its work with the people of Syria.
The room was open from 17 to 31 October, and was visited by around 40,000 visitors each week.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.