What Happens When You Let 100 Cats Loose Inside An IKEA?

In a perfect mix of Lolcats and viral marketing IKEA recently let 100 cats loose in one of their stores. The idea behind the commercial is that the cats would naturally seek out the most comfortable furniture. I can't wait until they try this with badgers.

Comments

Badgers?

[poly_pusher]

We Don' Need No Stinkin' Badgers!

idle why?

[iamhassi]

this is bad even for idle, but I like IKEA less now so that's good if that was the point of this

Disappointing

[Anonymous Coward]

Was hoping for the work of an activist group.

Yeah. That'd work well in real life.

[asdf7890]

The idea behind the commercial is that the cats would naturally seek out the most comfortable furniture.

As anyone who is responsible for cats knows, what we consider comfortable is a much smaller set than the set of objects that a cat can get comfortable on.

Re:Yeah. That'd work well in real life.

[drcheap]

As I type this my cat, dissatisfied with my lap and boring flat desk top area, has recently chosen to lay down partially on my desk and partially on my printer output tray. The plastic bits are oddly shaped and flexing under the weight of his fat a$$, but he seems quite content.

Following his lead, and the idea of this article, I think I'm going to contact HP and buy a large format printer to replace the couch in my living room.

Re:Yeah. That'd work well in real life.

[chichilalescu]

then I'd need a 2 meter keyboard.

Re:Yeah. That'd work well in real life.

[Volante3192]

The measure of something's comfortableness to a cat is in direct relation to how much you desire to use that item.

Book? Uncomfortable.
Book you're about to pick up? Most comfortable spot on the planet.

Re:Yeah. That'd work well in real life.

[asdf7890]

Nah, the most comfortable (or most interesting) spot on the planet is the book you are currently trying to read.

Re:Yeah. That'd work well in real life.

[TheThiefMaster]

My cat (which lives with my parents, because my rented place doesn't allow pets) finds the fruit basket comfortable.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't.

Re:Yeah. That'd work well in real life.

[Mysticalfruit]

The good news is that the couch would only cost you ~$50, however the ink would easily cost more than your entire house...

Re:Yeah. That'd work well in real life.

[petermgreen]

If padding or springing is too hard or too soft it may as well not be there at all as in the former case it will hardly compress at all and in the latter case it will just sit at maximum compression, in neither case will it spread weight or cusion impacts effecitvely. What is too hard or too soft depends on the weight of the object in question and in some cases also on the size of the contact area and cats weigh a lot less than people.

Also cats seem quite happy to curl up on pretty hard surfaces as long as they aren't cold (our cat used to curl up in the middle of the landing where there is a junction in the heating pipes and hence a warm spot), furniture designed for humans often may as well be a hard surface for something as light as a cat.

ikea is racist!

[v1]

ok attention getter subject line. BUT... did you notice, very close to 100% of the cats in the video had completely white fur? There were a couple all non-white I spotted, and several with dark patches such as head or feet, but the rest, all white.

Maybe they figured white cat hair would be easier to clean up after tho. I have a pair of ocicats myself, and let me tell you, striped hairs show up on anything. (thank god they don't shed much)

Re:ikea is racist!

[ZorinLynx]

I notice they were nearly all cat fancy accepted breeds, at least a first glance. Having been around random cat populations, most real cats don't look like that. I wonder if they obtained the animals from a cat show that was in town or something, because that just seems odd.

I'm a bit against the whole cat fancy world. Though I adore cats, every time a "cat fancier" breeds another kitten, that's a kitten that will die in a shelter. All cats are beautiful, and there's plenty of them; we need not breed more on purpose.

Re:ikea is racist!

[Volante3192]

They probably wanted breeds less likely to cause allergic reactions along with ones well groomed with as little loose fur as possible. Nothing short of incineration will remove cat fur entirely once a cat has snuggled up to something.

The lawsuits of those allergic to cats afterwards would be brutal if something happened.

Half off price

[DigiShaman]

In other news: Cat damaged furniture from clawing activities sets record price reduction.

Toxoplasmosis

[Anonymous Coward]

So, no one is worried about toxoplasmosis?

What happens? Viral marketing happens

[Scrameustache]

And that video is a video of people talking about cats in a store, with a few quick shots of cats. It is NOT a video of cats loose in a store, so it's viral FALSE advertising. I loved Ikea before, now I like them less.

Re:What happens? Viral marketing happens

[Volante3192]

It's a making-of clip, with the commercial at the end. If you, you know, clicked through for once, you'd have seen that.

Re:What happens? Viral marketing happens

[Scrameustache]

It's a making-of clip, with the commercial at the end. If you, you know, clicked through for once, you'd have seen that.

I saw it 4 websites ago when it was new... I'm not a cat-fancier, so that commercial wasn't aimed at swaying my emotions, it's therefore normal that it fails. I guess cat-fanciers must love watching other people talk about cats.

A vid of hundreds of cats loose in a store WOULD have been nice, instead of just a few frustratingly edited clips. So BOO I say, BOOOOOOO!

Re:What happens? Viral marketing happens

[Volante3192]

There's always http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_MaJDK3VNE

Re:What happens? Viral marketing happens

[White Shade]

Yeah, honestly, for a video billed as being 100 cats loose in a store, I was expecting, you know, more cats being loose in a store....

Re:What happens? Viral marketing happens

[sakdoctor]

Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking cats in this motherfucking store!

Judging by mine

[SmallFurryCreature]

Ikea should dump the furniture and just sell the boxes.

Expensive cat tower... meh

Box it came in: best thing ever!

Ideal cat furniture, warmed, small, high up, in sunbeam...

How this translate to humans? Like human could possible want to sit ina nice comfy warm spot in the sun with a great lookout on the world around us... oh wait.

Re:Judging by mine

[i.r.id10t]

One of my first childs favorite birthday gifts (3rd birthda) was a big refridgerator box w/ a bunch of various sized bubble wrap in it....

I thought the meatballs

[Buzzo]

tasted kinda funny.

All gone.

[Fuzzums]

"the cats would naturally seek out the most comfortable furniture" suggests they all will escape and go to places with REAL furniture?

I can has CAPTIONZ??

[w0mprat]

Seriously, no spoof yet?

Anonymous Coward.

[Anonymous Coward]

In a related experiment, a McDonald's has just released a thousand cockroaches.