IKEA's Reputation Has Taken A Serious Beating

IKEA's brand has been put through the wringer lately, as a series of three incidents has changed how Americans think about the Swedish furniture retailer.

To recap:

• Sept. 2012: IKEA Photoshops women out of its Saudi Arabia catalog, then later apologizes once the public finds out.
• Nov. 2012: Ernst & Young reveals that IKEA did business with communist East German suppliers that used forced labor to make the retailer's products 30 years ago.
• Feb. 2013: IKEA recalls meatballs after it found some had contained traces of horse meat.

The brand's reputation has plummeted in the U.S., according to YouGov BrandIndex, which tracks the public perception of brands around the world.

IKEA has fallen all the way down to four on YouGov's index — its lowest level in more than three years.