IKEA demands teens stop sleeping in its stores, definitely won't lead to more

You’ve heard of the Streisand effect, right?

Named after the American singer and actress, it’s the act of trying to hide or censor a piece of information, but in doing so giving it exponentially more publicity than had you actually kept schtum. 

Think Beyonce at the 2013 Super Bowl. That time a court tried to ban The Pirate Bay. Or when, in 2003, Barbara Streisand tried to suppress photos of her California home – which saw views of the images grow from six to 420,000 in a month – and the term was born.

IKEA might’ve been advised to give the term a swift Google, before they released a statement demanding teenagers stop creeping into its stores for illegal “sleepovers”, in a move that definitely won’t lead to more teenagers creeping into its stores for illegal sleepovers.

Apparently started by two Belgian YouTubers – who stowed themselves in wardrobes until doors closed, then jumped on beds and talked at length about cranberry jam – the trend has since seen around 10 incidents of “non-sponsored sleepovers” across IKEA’s 400 stores.

Most recently, a pair of 14-year-old girls in Sweden were caught while spending the night at a branch in Jonkoping, Sweden (they got a slap on the wrist), whereas two 15-year-olds from were charged with trespassing, after setting off alarms in a Malmo store.

A spokesperson for the flatpack conglomerates said, “Maybe needless to say that the fun in it is overrated. A long night of sitting still, only to then risk getting into trouble with the law."

Call us cynics, but now a worldwide audience has caught wind of this ‘overrated’ trend, we have a hunch there might be a few more stories of sleepy stowaways like over the coming months.

(Pic: iStock)