Hong Kong just won its first Olympic gold in 25 years, and IKEA is celebrating with some decidedly clever wordplay.
Mere minutes after fencer Edgar Cheung clinched the victory at the men’s singles event at the Tokyo Olympic Games Monday, IKEA posted a picture on Facebook of an advertisement for an artificial gladiolus flower at a slashed price of HK$39.90 (US$5).
Its Chinese description, which reads “artificial flower, gladiolus/white color,” has the character for flower, and the first character of “gladiolus,” highlighted. The two underscored characters read “foil fencing”—AKA the event that Cheung took home a historic gold medal in.
The post includes an English caption: “Although I am just a flower, I am proud to have the same initial as foil! Add “foil” Cheung!”
Facebook users praised the pun in the comments and joked that whoever is behind the pun deserves a raise.
“The manager of this page has been waiting all day for this second to post this,” another person wrote.
Others suggested that IKEA discount the artificial flower to HK$19.3, a reference to the 24-year-old’s height (Cheung is 193 cm tall).
Cheung’s achievements represent only the second time that the city has won a gold medal at the Olympics. The first was in 1996, when windsurfer Lee Lai-shan clinched the coveted title at the games in the US city of Atlanta.
Read more: Here are the Team Singapore athletes that have qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics so far
This article, IKEA’s clever flower pun is the celebratory Olympics wordplay Hong Kong didn’t know it needed, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia’s leading alternative media company.
