An IKEA bedroom display with the window view of a Hong Kong public housing estate. Photo: lihkg.com
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https://scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3206274/stop-dreaming-backlash-after-hong-kong-ikea-outlets-slammed-using-public-housing-blocks-show-flat People & Culture
‘Stop dreaming!’: backlash after Hong Kong IKEA outlets slammed for using public housing blocks as show flat window view
- IKEA accused of ‘mocking’ Hongkongers by using window views of public housing blocks in show flats in city outlets
- But online observers hit back with, ‘Do you want a view of Mount Fuji?’ backing Swedish company for their realistic portrayal of city
Criticism of the Swedish furniture giant IKEA for using views of public housing blocks in the show flats of their Hong Kong outlets has been rejected by many online. Photo: SCMP Composite
A Hong Kong man has triggered an online debate by slamming the Swedish furniture giant IKEA for using Hong Kong public housing blocks instead of beautiful scenery in the window views of its mockup showrooms.
The man, who posted a picture of a Hong Kong apartment showroom on the LIHKG online forum on January 8, suggested that the brand was deliberately mocking the city’s populace.
He claimed that by using a view of the characteristic public housing blocks – affordable housing provided by the government to lower-income residents – the Swedish interior design giant was sneering at Hongkongers for dreaming, being realistic and falling for “the illusion that buying IKEA products means living in northern Europe,” HK01 reported.
Online observers were of a different mind, however, with many saying the move proved IKEA had a down-to-earth attitude towards Hong Kong life and was displaying a “clear brand positioning”.
“People complain about brands being out-of-touch with reality, but even if they are down-to-earth people still complain,” one person said in defence of IKEA.
Another suggested that IKEA was targeting customers with average and lower incomes: “What’s wrong with being honest? People living in big mansions don’t go to IKEA after all.”
“Would you be happy with a view of Mount Fuji?” another joked.
Public rental housing is widely seen as a safety net for low-income families and a solution to poverty caused by Hong Kong’s sky-high property prices.
A third of Hong Kong’s population live in public housing blocks like this one in the Yue Wan Estate on Hong Kong Island. Photo: SCMP/Jonathan Wong
By June 2022, around 2.16 million people – a third of Hong Kong’s population – lived in a total of 850,700 public rental housing units.
Rental costs ranged from HK$60 to HK$90 per square metre, a fifth to a quarter of that of private housing, according to statistics from the Hong Kong Housing Bureau.
For those facing financial hardship, the government also offers rent assistance schemes which can further reduce the rent by 25 to 50 per cent.
Public housing is popular among Hong Kong residents, who wait in line for an average of five to six years to get a public flat.
By the end of September 2022, there were over 130,000 households on the waiting list, according to Hong Kong Housing Authority, the main provider of public housing in the city.
Public housing estates have also become a symbol of Hong Kong’s cityscape due to their unique architectural designs.
Among the public housing estates in the city that remain popular with photographers are the Choi Hung Estate in Kowloon with its iconic rainbow façade and the award-winning Lai Tak Estate, in Causeway Bay, with its rare cylindrical structure, which also became a location for the Hollywood remake of the Japanese sci-fi anime film, Ghost in the Shell, in 2016.