Ikea Bullies Plants to Demonstrate the Impact of Negative Words

More than one-out-of-five students in the U.S. reports being bullied, making it a prevalent topic for educators and parents. And, over the past few years, organizations and brands have joined the conversation – creating hashtags, emojis and even hidden camera stunts – to bring awareness to the issue. Now, Ikea is joining the ranks with a simple, tangible activation that demonstrates the negative effects of bullying.

The Swedish furniture chain set up a demonstration in a Dubai school using two nearly-identical plants from IKEA stores, asking students to record positive messages for one plant, and negative messages for the other. Each plant was given the same amount of water, fertilizer and sunlight as the recordings were played on a loop for 30 days. At the end of the 30-day experiment, the plant that received kind words and encouragement remained healthy while the bullied plant began to wilt. 

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