Lidl goes bananas in Sweden, again.

Lidl , the low price supermarket chain, has come out with a poster, depicting bananas with the headline "Our phobia is high prices."

This isn't funny in itself, but very timely, as in Sweden one of our politicians became an unexpected internet sensation when she shared what her phobia is. It's bananas.

Paulina Brandberg, Sweden's Gender Equality Minister, has bananaphobia. This isn't just a casual dislike for the yellow fruit; it's a full-blown, "hide all the bananas or she'll go into a tailspin" kind of fear.

Staff and other government officials, in a scene straight out of a sitcom, head first into conference rooms searching for any trace of banana, ensuring not even a banana peel lurks in the shadows before Brandberg's arrival. Her staff has taken to sending emails with the urgency of a spy mission, requesting that all areas be "banana-free" zones.

Brandberg herself has sought professional help for this condition, which, while rare, seems to be quite the conversation starter in Sweden. It's like the country has unintentionally embarked on a quest to understand the human psyche through its fear of tropical fruits.

And that's when Lidl hits us with this topical ad. Well done, Lidl!

This isn't the first time that Lidl made a timely ad with a banana. In 2019 when the internet went bananas (pun intended) over the artwork "Comedian," by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, Lidl joined the banana-hype.
While social media was flooded with memes, copycat artworks, and people using duct tape to secure their own household items to walls, Lidl taped a banana to the wall and declared that you could "save 1099977,10" SEK by buying their bananas instead.

Since the banana-artwork recently sold at Sotheby's for $6.2 million, Lidl could recycle that ad, with some editing on the price. Either way, both banana-ads are timely and funnier than most comedians.