The multinational Swedish furniture giant Ikea has received harsh criticism in their home country after airbrushing women out of their Saudi Arabian catalogue. Many Swedes were offended by Ikea’s decision, believing that the deletion of women from the Saudi catalogue portrayed their country as being “gender unequal.”

Swedish catalogue on left vs. Saudi Arabian catalogue on right.

In Saudi Arabia, with an Islamic population of approximately 97%, the appearance of women in advertisements is rare. When they are shown on television, they are only depicted wearing traditional long-sleeved black dresses and scarves to conceal their hair. Exposed arms or legs in international magazines are always censored.

This raises the question, is Ikea’s deletion of women in their Saudi Arabian catalogue a sign of disrespect or the company’s attempt to conform to Saudi cultural norms? And if Ikea did release the same catalogue in Saudi Arabia as it did in Sweden, would this have caused backlash in the Muslim community?

Geographical expansion is a difficult feat for any company. Not only must it deal with growing costs and the development of new distribution patterns, but differing cultural and religious norms must also be taken into account. Ikea’s decision to remove women in their Saudi Arabian catalogue may have seemed outrageous in Sweden, yet completely normal for Saudi consumers. So, the question is, how does a company find balance?

Sources:
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-10-01/ikea-deleted-women-from-saudi-version-of-catalogue
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/01/ikea-saudi-arabia-catalogue_n_1928635.html#slide=1361762
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/02/ikea-apologises-removing-women-saudi-arabia-catalogue (image from article)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia