A blog reader (Beryl H.) left a com­ment about IKEA’s recent commercial.

Dear To Whom It May Concern,

I have watched your recent adver­tise­ment with some alarm, I do not know if you real­ize that you are encour­ag­ing theft, cheat­ing and dis­hon­esty — “Start the car, start the car” Many of my friends have voiced the same con­cern — If some­one shoplifts, I gather you are not going to pros­e­cute them, an ide­al­is­tic thought, but your prof­its will plum­met, I sug­gest you have a word with your adver­tis­ing agency

Yours truly,

Beryl H.

Here’s the commercial:

Although I do not per­son­ally find the com­mer­cial offen­sive (nor is it funny), I can under­stand how it may give chil­dren a wrong idea. But that’s not the first time IKEA has had a con­tro­ver­sial ad. The infa­mous dog pic­ture was much more dis­turb­ing, and remem­ber the Cana­dian flyer with the photo of a child read­ing a Mickey Spillane book?

What do you think of IKEA’s Win­ter Ad? Does it pro­mote Dishonesty?