Does Bullying Plants Actually Cause Them To Wilt?
IKEA asked children to bully a plant for 30 days
When you think of Ikea, you imagine reasonably priced, hard-to-assemble bedroom sets and $1 cinnamon rolls. But the furniture giant recently extended its reach farther than its maze of one-way traffic shoppers. It attempted to raise awareness of the harmful effects of bullying on school children. In honor of the May 4 Anti-Bullying Day in the Middle East, Ikea asked children to bully a plant for 30 days in multiple schools across the UAE as part of a “live experiment to highlight the negative effects of verbal bullying.” Recorded loops of both harmful insights and uplifting compliments played on loop to the two plants alongside the students’ own verbal contributions to the experiment. As one plant wilted and one flourished, it became clear that Ikea’s unconventional demonstration had merit. Call it pseudoscience all you like, but plants have feelings too, OK?Bully A Plant
Doing their part to spread awareness about the harmful effects of verbal bullying, furniture giant IKEA stepped up to raise awareness in honor of the annual Anti-Bullying Day in the UAE.
Crafting an experiment that would take place in multiple schools across the nation, thousands of schoolchildren were exposed to the actual physical response of processing verbal abuse.
Anti-Bullying Day
[dx_custom_adunit desktop_id=”RTK_K67O” mobile_id=”RTK_5yk0″]
IKEA timed their eye-opening experiment to be completed on the May 4 internationally observed Anti-Bullying Day.
Originating in Nova Scotia, the event was created as an attempt to combat the startling number of children victimized by bullies throughout their adolescence.
With “bullycide” rates rising, the United Nations officially declared May 4 as Anti-Bullying Day in 2012.
The Experiment
To create the experiment, IKEA employees took two of their own Dracaena plants and put them on display at schools across the UAE.
Kept safe beind see-through protective coverings, the two plants were each played a 24/7 recorded loop of either hateful, hurtful comments or uplifting compliments.
Join In
To make the experiment more effective and relatable, thousands of schoolchildren were invited to join in with their own additions to the loop of recorded statements played to the plants.
According to the Swedish company, the plants were both kept in the exact same controlled environment and received an equal amount of water and sunlight.