SINGAPORE - News of a man who got into trouble with the law for removing a bus stop bench appears to have inspired advertising efforts by budget airline Scoot, as well as furniture retailers Courts and Ikea.

Scoot posted an advertisement on its Facebook page on Tuesday (Oct 9) with the title, "Great seats at a steal", for flights to Malaysian destinations. It featured a cartoon figure seemingly dragging a plane seat away with a $1,500 price tag cheekily slipped into the ad.

It added in the post: "Get off the bench and hop on board to your next holiday!"

The post was made after it was reported earlier on the same day that a man, Tan Ke Wei, 22, removed a grey metal bench from a Braddell Road bus stop in June last year.

Tan took the bench - worth $1,500 - home in a garbage bag after unscrewing the bolts that secured the bench. It was heard in court that Tan removed the bench as it looked nice and he wanted to check its dimensions.

He was sentenced to a seven-day short detention order on Tuesday.

Shortly after, on Thursday, Courts posted on Facebook an ad for a $179 Callum dining bench with the line "Comes with no detention".

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Courts added in the post: "So now you can focus only on taking the bus home."

Ikea also promoted its Industriell bench on Facebook on Thursday with the line: "Bring home a way more affordable bench from our store (not the bus stop)."

"No dismantling required," said the Ikea ad for the $159 product.

The ads have caused a buzz online. One user, Gnof Nivlac, wrote on Ikea's post: "It's safe to say the Ikea marketing team is not just... sitting around..."