A Reddit user mentioned seeing a map of the world at a Washington D.C. IKEA that was notably missing New Zealand – and it turns out this is just one more time that map-makers overlooked the tiny-but-mighty island
In fact, there’s an entire Reddit thread dedicated to maps that are missing New Zealand. Who knew?
Is it because it’s small? Because it’s well-mannered?
A secret conspiracy by New Zealanders to get the rest of us to forget their tiny slice of paradise and sheep exists?
Whatever the reason, check out all of these examples – it literally happens all. the. time.
At Ashley Furniture…
The board game Pandemic…
On a tablecloth…
Even in a college textbook.
For their part, IKIEA has apologized in a statement to the BBC, saying “IKEA is responsible for securing correct and compliant motifs on all our products. We can see that the process has failed regarding the product BJORKSTA world map – we regret this mistake and apologize.”
They claim they’re going to fix it, too…or at least pull the map from their stores.
“We will take the necessary actions and the product is now being phased out from our stores.”
Keep your eyes peeled the next time you’re browsing an IKEA, friends. The world – including New Zealand – needs to know if they’ve followed through.