Ikea has been forced to remove a picture of a boy from one of its stores in Wales after customers complained the child's pose reminded them of Adolf Hitler.

The black and white photo, used in the Cardiff showroom, shows a young boy holding his finger sideways across his top lip to pretend he has a mustache.

A local shopper, Stevie Davies-Evans, was left fuming after spotting the picture and tweeted to Ikea support: “@IKEAUKSupport Saw this in a “Bedroom” in your Cardiff store yesterday. Inappropriate much? #Hitler.”

Tweet may have been deleted

After the episode, the Ikea Cardiff shop withdrew the print and released an apology statement.

“We can confirm that a photograph that could cause offence to some of our customers was found in our store," store manager Richard Owen said in a statement to Mashable.

"We often use photography to illustrate life at home in our room sets and as soon as we were made aware, the image was immediately removed.

"We apologise for any offence the image may have caused.”