Can you just pee on this ad for me please?

With the cost of living and fuel prices going up like crazy, what would you do for a discount?

A recent ad campaign run by Ikea for a crib asked customers for their urine in exchange for a bargain. The ad was run in popular Swedish magazine Amelia, and appropriately titled “Peeing on this ad may change your life” with a dedicated strip at the bottom of the page where the reader is asked to pee.

“Peeing on this ad may change your life”

The ad works much like a pregnancy test, however, if the result is positive, rather than displaying a cross or two lines, a discounted price for the crib is revealed. The ad shows a Sundvik crib for 995 SEK ($153 AUD) with a hidden discounted price of 495 SEK ($76 AUD) that will appear if the pregnancy test comes back positive.

Now if you’re anything like me you’re already picturing expecting mothers waiting in line at Ikea cash registers with their pee-soaked page to claim their discount. But you can stop worrying about the poor cashiers at Ikea as the ad was not intended for use as a coupon, and does not have to be redeemed in store.

In fact, you don’t even need to be pregnant to claim this discount. Ikea collaborated with marketing agency Åkestam Holst and chemical manufacturer Mercene Labs to create the ad to promote their family club, which is a free loyalty program with exclusive benefits including discounts like this one.

The ad unsurprisingly went viral, making international headlines and was generally received positively by readers. And with a promised discount of more than 50% I’m sure plenty of men will have tried their luck too. Although, as a male, this is one discount you probably don’t want as a false positive can actually be an indication of testicular cancer.

Amazingly, according to Mercene Labs, the technological advances made in order to create the ad could be used to improve medical diagnostics including assisting in diagnosing certain types of heart disease!

So, next time you’re looking through an Ikea catalogue why not try peeing on the items you’re interested in for a better deal! (Disclaimer: Don’t actually do this, this ad campaign was only run in Sweden.)