IKEA’s haunted home

A woman alone in a house is terrorised by an invisible malevolent force – glassware mysteriously smashes on the floor, creaky doors slam shut, a poltergeist hurls objects at her… 

It’s not often a commercial employs horror movie tropes to such effect, but in this clever spot, which is part of the retailer’s community engagement programme, a woman’s unseen aggressor turns out to be a less spiritual but no less sinister being – her partner.

Created by Prague agency Triad, and directed by Marek Partys through Bistro Films, Ghost probes the veneer of a seemingly perfect IKEA household dripping in sleek Scandi styling, to reveal the reality of living in fear at home. 

With domestic violence having increased during the pandemic, worrying stats reveal that 47 per cent of Czech women have experience some kind of abuse at home.

Ending with the tagline “domestic abuse is real, even if it’s not visible,” the film is part of the furniture stores’ mission statement that ‘every home should be a safe place’. Over the next two years, Czech IKEA is contributing CZK3,800,000 to non-profit organisations that help domestic abuse victims with the necessary assistance and accommodation.