IKEA Canada Has Released a Sequel to Spike Jonze’s ‘Lamp’ Ad

IKEA Canada has launched a sequel to one of its most iconic commercials, ‘Lamp’. Directed by Spike Jonze and launched in 2002, Lamp told the story of an old, unneeded lamp, tossed out in the trash. It managed to make leaky-eyed viewers feel sorry for a material object and scooped the Film Grand Prix at Cannes Lions in 2003. 

This new spot, created by Rethink and directed by Scouts Honour’s Mark Zibert,  shifts that original idea on its head - giving the original lamp a new lease of life as a metaphor to encourage people to recycle and reuse older products. 

It even features Jonas Fornander, the star of the original lamp who cheekily said, “Many of you feel sorry for this lamp, that is because you're crazy. It has no feelings, and the new one is much better.” He’s also been a Canadian radio personality for the past 15 years. Check out both spots below.

‘Lamp 2’ fits in with IKEA initiatives locally in Canada and globally too. Last year, IKEA Canada kicked off its Beautiful Possibilities platform that shifted IKEA’s external communications strategy to be more purpose-led, showing Canadians they could not only create the type of home they want, but also the type of world they want. Since that time, IKEA’s corporate strategy has followed suit with new programmes and initiatives that support diversity and inclusion, sustainability and vulnerable populations like refugees.

And in June, IKEA released its new People + Planet strategy which outlined ambitions until 2030, notably eliminating all single-use plastics from its range/restaurant, but also committing to being a completely circular business by 2030 – meaning among many other things that its products will be built to last longer, the materials fully recyclable/sustainable and it’ll have programmes in place to allow products to have a second life - i.e. supporting secondary marketplaces like Kijiji.