Different Arse

If you're as knackered, bored or plain voyeuristic as I've tended to be the last two Wednesday nights, you'll have noticed the Ikea Kitchen Squad ads dominating the breaks between Phil & Kirstie's Mortgage Goosechase on Chanel No. 4.

Obviously, it's always nice to see a big client spending big bucks on a nice big bit of targeted creative. Good stuff.

But what I don't understand is the tweedy, beardy, Open University bloke - Leonard Sheppard- they've sneeringly, self-consciously put together to front it. Here he is in action.


A cursory look at the inevitable/obligatory Kitchen Squad wesbite reveals an option to befriend this imaginary tosser via your Facetweets and that. Which, should you be as sneery, knowing, and self-conscious as the creatives behind the ad to find some sort of ironic empathy for a naff regonial TV presenter who doesn't even exist, I'm sure you'll be doing in your sneery, studenty droves. On the other hand, if you happen to be a bemused housewife wondering where to be buy a new kitchen, you'll probably just find the whole thing a baffling and convoluted waste of your time.

Even as a devout post-modernist, I find the layers of irony here almost impossible to unravel. I get the part about Ikea having a team of experts to design my new kitchen. But why do I need Jarvis Cocker to oversee it?