The IPKat has come across a rather unlikely rebranding suggestion through MosNews.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of Russia’s nationalist LDRP party has suggested that IKEA rename itself LDRP. Zhirinovsky argued that the party’s mark is similar since both consist of four letters and feature the colours blue and yellow. He points out that LDRP has used its mark since, 1989 while IKEA’s mark has only been used in Russia since 2000.
Zhirinovsky reckons that a change of name will lead to more sales for IKEA. He also suggests that the homeware store begin selling Zhirinovsky perfume, Zhirinovsky vodka, caps and t-shirts with LDPR’s logo. Customers would also receive an LDPR booklet and a record of Zhirinovsky’s songs for free.
The article does not record IKEA’s response to this suggestion.
The IPKat could understand if Zhirinovsky was trying to stop IKEA from using its mark in Russia, but encouraging a defender to change its similar mark to an identical mark is rather unusual.