Building Ikea furniture on acid: And why didn’t anyone think of this before?
Did you ever really look at your hands, man? Did you ever really look at someone else’s hands building Ikea furniture on acid? Apparently, someone thought this was a great idea, and it has made for a viral YouTube channel that has been snaking its way through the social channels like a paisley serpent through a habitrail (I’m not the only one that saw that, right?).
Not that we condone this, mind you, but Hikea is quickly gaining traction takes on the ultimate mashup – the frustration of building Ikea furniture with names like Arkelstorp and Faarglad from its many parts, and ingesting mind-altering substances.
Hikea launched its first trailer and two episodes on August 8, but it’s already hitting the internet like a big pull off a two-foot water pipe. Episode 1 shows Giancarlo and Nicole, two twentysomethings in an apartment, taking acid and trying to assemble a dresser, to comic effect. They laugh, they stare out windows, they carefully place screws and fasteners in place, they look at their hair, laugh some more, then finally go out and play on the swings at the local park.
The channel is the brainchild of a freelance creative director, Alex Taylor, formerly of BBDO New York, and Hunter Fine, a creative at Wieden + Kennedy New York. The two friends looked at their own experiences assembling the ubiquitous Swedish furniture, and they thought it would be great to do a social experiment of sorts that many could relate to.
“Building Ikea furniture is hard. Building it under the influence is much, much harder. But it’s something many of us have experienced. It’s a struggle that’s nearly universal.”
That quote is taken from the YouTube channel page, and it sums up the general silliness but connectable nature of the videos.
Episode 2 features Keith (last names not included) taking a bag of psychedelic mushrooms and assembling a desk. At first, his frustration kicks in and he steps away from what seems a monumental task to undertake while colors are swirling all around his head.
“This is a book of lies,” he said as he held up the manual.
Eventually encouraged by the crew, he finished the desk in five hours and 37 minutes.
Ikea has not commented on the channel, but they haven’t shut it down either, meaning they must be getting some free advertising from this. The pair plans to continue making the videos with willing participants they find on Craigslist until they get a cease and desist order or it runs its course.