For many women, a positive pregnancy test is exciting for a multitude of reasons. Now, if they used IKEA’s latest ad as the test, one of those reasons can be a major deal on a crib. For real.


According to AdWeek, Swedish readers of Amelia Magazine will find an unusual page in the newest issue: The IKEA ad doubles as a real pregnancy test. If it’s positive, the sale price for the Sundvik crib will be revealed—instead of the traditional plus sign.

The creative geniuses at advertising agency Mercene Labs explain the IKEA ad is the marriage of old-fashioned pregnancy tests and technological advancements.

“The pregnancy test strip was used as a starting point, which relies on antibodies that bind to the pregnancy hormone hCG, resulting in a color change,” they say in a statement. “For scaling up of this technique and adopting it to the physical format of a printed ad, Mercene Labs has used their experience in development of surface active materials for microfluidics and medical diagnostics. Careful selection of materials, together with a controlled capillary flow have been crucial for the success of this project.”

The folks at Mercene Labs continue, “Technical advancements made during the work with this campaign have the potential to improve medical diagnostics.”

Those are the same advancements that recently made the first flushable pregnancy tests available to the mass market—meaning you don’t have to fly to Sweden to snag a copy of the magazine.

As amazing as the new type of pregnancy tests are, I didn’t see this coming. But I will admit it’s brilliant. It’s cool. It’s handy. And, yeah, it’s a little gross if you actually have to hand it over to the sales person in order to get the deal. (I guess that’s their problem.)