IKEA on Thursday denied spreading images of a woman exposing her bottom at one of its stores after photos of a half-naked woman, which were allegedly taken at a Beijing branch of the Swedish furniture giant, went viral online.
IKEA said they have called the police regarding the saucy photos and insisted that the photos were not taken at one of their stores. The company also claimed that the pictures are not part of a marketing stunt to generate coverage about a new store, Beijing-based newspaper The Mirror reported.
The photos were uploaded to Sina Weibo by a netizen late Wednesday, with a caption saying "I finally understand why you Beijing residents like to go shopping in IKEA."
Attached to the Weibo post were two photos of a woman pushing a shopping cart, with the woman facing away from the camera. The black-haired woman was wearing a gray dress, which she had hiked up to reveal her lower half despite other customers being visible in the photos. The photos blurred the woman's bottom and her upper thighs. The woman appears to be in an IKEA outlet.
On Thursday morning Beijing cyber police told the netizen to remove the photos, which have since been taken down, The Mirror reported.
The netizen told The Mirror that the photos were taken by its friend at IKEA's Siyuanqiao, Chaoyang district branch.
Another set of photos also allegedly taken at an IKEA store went viral this week, which show a naked woman standing in a sample bedroom and sitting on a bed. The photos have also been removed from the Internet, The Mirror reported.
