Last week we reviewed a St. Lukes ad for IKEA’s PAX wardrobe, which wordlessly depicted women being jostled about in an ongoing quest for safe haven.
In response, zig sent us its take on PAX. “Garagetalk” airs in Canada and was adapted in Germany. The vibe’s completely different, but it still ties PAX to women and our apparently insatiable need for ambient shoe space.
Easing a friend into her PAXed-out closet with a casual “Welcome to the Jane-zone” (wince!), one chick shows off her wardrobe space with the attitude men adopt over modded “bachelor” garages. In case you miss the cues, concluding text wryly reads, “Men have the garage. Women have the PAX wardrobe.”
The approach is the inverse of this Heineken ad, where women at a house party scream over a walk-in closet — and men scream over a walk-in fridge.
All this wardrobe wanking got us thinking: if the developed world has finally hit a point where middle-class women can not only fantasize but expect to own a lavish walk-in with all the trimmings, then it’s due in no small part to IKEA, the innovative Swedes that empowered us with low prices, zany operating instructions and a manly-man screwdriver. (‘Cause you know if you want some PAX, you’re putting it together yourself.)
Ahh. Smell that? It’s not just particleboard; it’s progress.
