A growing trend in unwarranted sleepovers at IKEA has caused the company to issue a statement asking pranksters to stop staying at its stores overnight.
The trend was started by two Belgian teenagers who hid in a store, emerging after closing time and then filming their exploits. The video, titled "Two Idiots at Night in IKEA," has almost 2 million views on YouTube.
Copycat efforts followed in the U.S., Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Japan, Australia and the company's home base in Sweden this year, Sky News reported. The news outlet reported at least 10 similar incidents have occurred.
"We appreciate that people are interested in IKEA and want to create fun experiences, however the safety and security of our co-workers and customers is our highest priority, and that's why we do not allow sleepovers in our stores," a spokesperson for IKEA told BuzzFeed News.
One of the Belgian teenagers that started the craze, 19-year-old Florian Van Hecke, said that he and his friend "just wanted to do something crazy -- something a bit out of control."
"It started as kind of a joke," Van Hecke told the Washington Post. "We just wanted to sleep in an IKEA."
Sky News said IKEA spokeswoman Johanna Iritz called the prank "overrated" and said that the retailer was taking the incidents "seriously."
"A long night of sitting still, only to then risk getting in trouble with the law," she said.
"We were very relieved and glad they wouldn't sue us," he said, according to the Post. "We don't want to have trouble with IKEA. We just want to spread the message: Life is like one big, huge movie. It better be interesting."
IKEA has more than 300 locations in more than 30 countries worldwide.
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