The Swedish-founded group has highlighted just how damaging bullying can be — even to humble plants — by getting children to hurl loads of abuse at them
SWEDISH flatpack giant Ikea got a load of children to record insults — and play them back at plants in a bizarre experiment.
The retailer wanted to stress just how harmful bullying can be by staging the live test at schools across the United Arab Emirates recently.
Audio messages were recorded and then played on loops for 30 days. Half the plants were taunted with insults while the others were played compliments.
All the plants were given the exact same amount of sunlight and water.
In a video highlighting the results, one message says: "You look rotten.
Another says: "Are you even alive?"
But the compliments include, "I like you the way you are" and "You're making a difference in the world".
Incredibly, the plants which got played the negative comments withered after 30 days while the ones played compliments remained healthy.
One pupil said: "As the weeks passed, I started noticing that the one was being bullied started to droop."
Thomas Nelson, teacher and head of house at GEMS Wellington Academy in Dubai, a school that participated in the initiative, said: "It has raised the profile massively of different forms of bullying and the effects that bullying can have on people."
But gardeners have also been impressed by the study. It has long been considered a myth that staying nice things to plants help them grow.
One green-fingered YouTuber posted: "It's true that if you talk to your plants and even sing to them, they grow better and are healthier. I know so because I have done the same experiment on my own plants."
Alana Schetzer, of the University of Melbourne wrote online: "Plants may not have eyes, ears or a tongue, but their skin can perform many of the same functions... [They] can respond accordingly."
An IKEA spokesperson said: “This was a story created by IKEA in the UAE to support World Anti Bullying Day, because they wanted to help children understand the effects of bullying. Educating children on this subject was their focus and their message was that spreading kindness helps us all to grow and thrive.”
