‘New Zealand exists!’ Consternation on Twitter after Ikea leaves country off map

Ikea has apologized for an offensive world map that somehow doesn’t feature New Zealand – one month after they announced plans to expand into the island nation.

The Swedish furniture giant was forced to address their harsh removal of the country from our planet after a person took to Reddit to point out their omission. The poster spotted the awkward error on the ‘Björksta’ world map at a Washington DC store.

“Ikea is responsible for securing correct and compliant motifs on all our products. We can see that the process has failed regarding the product Björksta world map,” a company spokesperson told the BBC.

“We regret this mistake and apologise,” they said, adding that the incomplete map is currently being phased out of Ikea stores.

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The timing couldn’t be more awkward for the flat-pack furniture giant: the epic gaffe comes just weeks after Ikea announced its plans to expand into New Zealand at the end of 2018, and the “phase out” process has yet to reach its website, which still offers the incorrect map.

Understandably, New Zealanders have taken to social media to vent their frustration at yet again being treated as Australia’s forgotten cousin. Of course, the Aussies managed to find humor in the furore.

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