IKEA to take legal action over ‘swastika’ dining table called ‘Hadølf’
IKEA has said it will take legal action over a controversy surrounding a table shaped like a swastika named ‘Hadølf’.
The furniture giant intends to sue the source of a photograph which went viral online in Germany.
The photoshopped image was posted online by an as yet unknown source, and claimed that the Swedish retailer’s Italian branch was selling the table, shaped like a swastika and aptly named ‘Hadølf’.
“It is of course clear that such a table is not part of our program, either in Italy or anywhere else,” an IKEA spokesperson told The Berliner Zeitung.
The table was apparently priced at just 88 Euros, another reason people were quick to realise the image was false.
The number 88 has been an abbreviated code for ‘Heil Hitler’ for some time, given that H is the eighth letter in the alphabet.
Despite these red flags, the image still went viral online.
IKEA has now warned that, if the original poster can be tracked down, it would take legal action.
The brand is sensitive to suggested links to Nazi Germany, given that its founder Ingvar Kamprad was a member of a neo-Nazi group in his youth.
However the 89-year-old put down the membership to “youthful stupidity”, when it was revealed in the 90s.
The billionaire called it “the greatest mistake of [his] life”, and asked for forgiveness from his staff.
IKEA earlier this year pulled the Russian edition of its Family Life magazine to avoid being in breach of the country’s anti-gay propaganda law.
Back in 2013, the Swedish furniture giant came under criticism for editing out an interview with a lesbian couple from its customer magazine in its Russian edition.
