IKEA Is Really Sorry About Deleting Women From Saudi Catalogs

If, like me, you are a collector of the various international editions of the IKEA catalog, you may have noticed something different about the version for customers in Saudi Arabia. No, it’s not a huge price difference on Ektorp couches. It’s a surprising lack of women in the photos.

Apparently playing “spot the difference” with their own IKEA catalogs, the folks at the Swedish edition of Metro also noticed that adults with breasts had been mysteriously removed from photos in the Saudi version, calling into question IKEA’s commitment to gender equality.

In response to the report, IKEA issued an apology, which we’re just going to believe was written using a really tiny wooden pencil:

“We should have reacted and realized that excluding women from the Saudi Arabian version of the catalogue is in conflict with the IKEA Group values.”

Ikea Saudi Arabia Catalogue Has Women Deleted [AP]