Elf on the Shelf

About

Elf on the Shelf is a Christmas-themed elf doll and the protagonist character of the 2005 children's book with the same name. Since its emergence to mainstream popularity, the decorative figurine has inspired parody photographs in which the Elf is staged in a wide range of erotic, creepy or otherwise disturbing settings, in similar vein to Hentai Woody and other figurine-based photo fads.

Origin

On September 28th, 2005, the children's book and toy set titled The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition was released, which tells the story of an elf who delivers reports regarding the behavior of children to Santa Claus each year. In 2008, 2009 and 2010, the doll won the Learning Express toy retailer's Best Toy Award.

On November 28th, 2009, a Facebook^[5] page titled "Elf on a Shelf Gone Bad" was launched, which highlights photographs of the Elf on a Shelf doll posed in a variety of violent, sexual and degenerate scenarios. Within the first five years, the page accumulated more than 111,000 likes.

Spread

On December 2nd, 2011, Redditor shadeofpalms submitted an Imgur album^[1] of photographs in which the Elf on the Shelf doll is depicted as a voyeur and a menace wreaking all sorts of havoc in a family home (shown below). Prior to being archived, the post gained over 3,400 up votes and 110 comments.

On November 6th, 2012, a Tumblr^[4] blog titled “Elf on the Shelf is creepy” was launched, highlighting many of the photographs from Redditor shadeofpalms’ post. On November 23rd, Redditor Mitch444 submitted a photograph of an Elf on the Shelf sitting next to a scantily clothed Barbie doll lying on the ground, with the stage setting suggesting that she had overdosed from snorting an illicit drug.^[2] (shown below, left). On December 11th, Redditor BeefAddict posted an Imgur photo album of an Elf on the Shelf indulging himself in acts of debauchery (shown below, middle, right). Prior to being archived, the post garnered upwards of 20,400 up votes and 450 comments on /r/funny.^[3]

On November 30th, 2013, the Internet news blog HyperVocal^[6] published a compilation of disturbing Elf on the Shelf photographs. On December 5th, 2013, Redditor ketchuppacket submitted a set of photographs in which an Elf on the Shelf doll is posing next to sleeping children with doodles drawn all over their faces (shown below). In the following two weeks, the post received over 4,400 up votes and 250 comments on the /r/funny^[8] subreddit. On the same day, the viral content site BuzzFeed^[7] highlighted photographs of humorously posed Elf on the Shelf dolls.

On December 7th, 2014, Redditor ruseious65433 posted a photograph of an Elf on the Shelf taped to a wall to /r/funny,^[11] where it garnered more than 11,200 votes (87% upvoted) and 160 comments before it was archived (shown below, left). On December 15th, 2015, Redditor OnTheEveOfWar submitted a screenshot of a Craigslist ad for a "Living Elf on the Shelf," featuring a photograph of a man dressed as the Christmas doll seated above a fireplace (shown below, right). Prior to being archived, the post gained over 8,200 votes (90% upvoted) and 230 comments on the /r/funny^[9] subreddit.

On October 11th, 2016, Redditor iia submitted a creepypasta story about an Elf on the Shelf doll to the /r/nosleep^[10] subreddit, where it garnered upwards of 1,900 votes (92% upvoted) and 130 comments within two months. On November 29th, the What's Inside YouTube channel uploaded a video in which they cut open an Elf on the Shelf doll. Within one month, the video garnered more than 5.88 million views and 23,900 comments.

You've Heard of Elf on a Shelf…

On December 3rd, 2016, Tumblr user fuckin-rockets posted a variation of the snowclone "You've heard of bigfoot, now get ready for…" with the phrase "You've heard of Elf on the Shelf, now get ready for…" Under that caption, they posted a picture of an Ash Ketchum action figure in a garbage can (the implied rhyme being "Ash in the Trash"). The post (shown below) received more than 53,000 notes within 10 months.

On September 14th, 2017, The /r/me_irl subreddit began posting "Elf on the Shelf" variants en masse. That day, PM_ME_YOUR_CHEETOS posted an image with the caption "You've heard of Elf on the Shelf, now get ready for" and an image of Shrek on a backyard deck in the The post (shown below, left) received more than 19,000 points (19% upvoted) and 200 comments. Redditor pebblesom posted the character Waluigi on a squeegee (shown below, center), garnering more than 20,000 points (93% upvoted) and 280 comments. Additionally, Redditor Havokmin posted a picture of Link from The Legend of Zelda on a sink (shown below, right), receiving more than 5,000 points (95% points) and 85 comments.

Search Interest

External References