--- title: IKEA: Funny Commercial Shows 18th Century Food Pictures description: In a new ad, the Swedish furniture chain considers how today's social media "likes" would get transmitted in a more analogue era. canonical: https://time.com/4436647/hilarious-ikea-commercial-reimagines-instagram-food-pictures-in-the-18th-century/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-03T15:00:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:35:01.384Z og:title: IKEA Reimagines the Instagram Experience in the 18th Century og:description: In a new ad, the Swedish furniture chain considers the social media of the past. og:url: https://time.com/4436647/hilarious-ikea-commercial-reimagines-instagram-food-pictures-in-the-18th-century/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: IKEA Reimagines the Instagram Experience in the 18th Century twitter:description: In a new ad, the Swedish furniture chain considers the social media of the past. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Hilarious Ikea Commercial Reimagines Instagram Food Pictures in the 18th Century  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 3, 2016 3:00 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 3, 2016 3:00 PM UTC IKEA’s newest commercial gives us a peek into the 18th-century version of posting to Instagram. In the [Swedish furniture chain’s](http://time.com/3265308/ikea-catalog-2015/) ad, a bourgeoisie family is about to sit down to an elaborate feast — but wait! First, a painter must come in to immortalize the scene in a still life. “It’s a meal. Not a competition,” IKEA reminds us. This isn’t the first time IKEA has sunk its teeth into parodying pop culture; in 2014, they released a [spot-on riff of Apple’s self-serious commercials](http://time.com/3265308/ikea-catalog-2015/). Based on their [latest Life at Home research](http://lifeathome.ikea.com/home/), which indicates that our collective concept of home is shifting, IKEA wants to remind us that disengaging from the outside world and appreciating the luxuries of a dinner table have value, too. And presumably, the chain thinks we’ll be buying that dinner table from them. Watch above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4436647/hilarious-ikea-commercial-reimagines-instagram-food-pictures-in-the-18th-century/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4436647/hilarious-ikea-commercial-reimagines-instagram-food-pictures-in-the-18th-century/"},"headline":"Hilarious Ikea Commercial Reimagines Instagram Food Pictures in the 18th Century","datePublished":"2016-08-03T15:00:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:01.384Z","description":"Did it for the likes","url":"https://time.com/4436647/hilarious-ikea-commercial-reimagines-instagram-food-pictures-in-the-18th-century/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Advertising","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4436647/hilarious-ikea-commercial-reimagines-instagram-food-pictures-in-the-18th-century/","name":"Hilarious Ikea Commercial Reimagines Instagram Food Pictures in the 18th Century"}}]}] ```