Found Object - Ask Anna
On www.ikea.com, the site’s “virtual assistant,” Anna can answer almost any question - with a fitting facial expression to match! Below are excerpts from a Q&A with Anna, posted on www.my-lanta.com.
Q: Have you heard about the links between IKEA and the Nazis?
A: The IKEA business idea is: “We shall offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.”
Q: Are you saying that [Ingvar] Kamprad was or is a Nazi?
A: In 1943, when Ingvar was 17, his father gave him a gift for succeeding in his studies. The gift was used to establish his own business.
Q: Are you a Nazi?
A: I really can’t say anything about this, please talk to me about IKEA.
Q: Do you think I’m hot?
A: Good looking and modest, too. What more could a person ask for?
Q: Are you flirting with me?
A: I’m not flirting. My job is to talk about IKEA, nothing more.
Q: What are you wearing?
A: I have an outfit that my creators made for me, but because I’m an IKEA Online Assistant, I don’t wear real clothes.
Q: I understand. So you are naked?
A: You are perfectly entitled to hold any opinion you want about me.
Q: May I hold you?
A: It’s certainly possible, maybe, although it’s not certain. You’d better check with Customer Service.