About

IKEA Shark, known officially as BLÅHAJ, is a plush shark toy sold by Swedish furniture store IKEA. Gaining initial popularity on Tumblr in 2014 when it was first introduced, in 2018 the shark achieved viral status in Russia with people sharing photographs of the plushie in various scenarios. The trend later spread globally, with the toy achieving cult popularity in many countries in the late 2010s and early 2020s.

Origin

In early 2014, IKEA furniture stores started selling BLÅHAJ (sw. blue shark), a plush shark toy (images shown below).^[1]

The plush toy first achieved online attention on November 13th, 2014, when Tumblr^[2] account sharkhugger posted a photograph of six plush sharks arranged as if sitting at a table. The post gained over 5,520 likes and reblogs in seven years (shown below).

Spread

On May 29th, 2015, Change.org^[3] user Winifred Wetherbee started a petition to IKEA to bring back BLÅHAJ to its stores, citing that "It's been the subject of many cute photosets, an adorable bed-time cuddle buddy for many, and has touched our hearts." The petition was signed by 615 supporters before ending.

On February 20th, 2016, Tumblr^[4] user sharkhugger posted screenshots of four snaps of the shark captioned "Whatever." The post received over 640 likes and reblogs in five years (shown below, left). On May 11th, 2016, Tumblr user xenocrisi posted an edited image of seven BLÅHAJ sharks watching the High School Fleet anime series (original and edited image shown below, center and right). The post received over 33,000 likes and reblogs in five years.

These initial posts spawned a trend of posting humorous photographs of BLÅHAJ sharks in which they are depicted performing various human activities, such as working, reading or eating. Between 2016 and 2018, a number of such photographs were posted to Tumblr and Instagram with the hashtags #ikeashark and #blahaj.

Popularity in Russia

On April 2nd, 2018, Pikabu user Alterway posted^[5] a collection of six BLÅHAJ images, including the 2016 post by sharkhugger. The collection received over 2,300 upvotes in three years. On April 4th, Russian website Twizz^[6] posted a collection of 18 BLÅHAJ images (examples shown below).

The April 2018 posts served as a catalyst for the massive popularization of BLÅHAJ shark toys in Russia, which achieved its peak in October 2018 with users posting photographs of the sharks to Instagram tagged with the #ikeashark hashtag. On Twitter, users posted that the massive hype surrounding the toy shark triggered shortages. For example, on October 12th, 2018, Pikabu^[7] user anprius posted a photograph of a man, likely a scalper, laden with dozens of sharks leaving an IKEA store. On October 20th, 2018, Twitter^[8] user @martin_camera wrote that the sharks were sold out within one hour after a new supply arrived at one IKEA store (image shown below, left).

In late October 2018, Russian media outlets, including TJ^[9] and Memepedia,^[10] reported on the trend.

Global Popularity

Following the initial popularity of the shark toy on Tumblr and its explosive popularity in Russia, in the late 2010s, BLÅHAJ gradually established its presence on Tumblr as a subject of memes and fan art, particularly on Tumblr and Reddit. On February 10th, 2018, the /r/BLAHAJ^[11] subreddit was launched, gaining over 22,800 subscribers in three years.

On February 4th, 2020, Tumblr^[12] user arielle-one-a-day posted a GIF of two BLÅHAJ sharks kissing that gained over 150 likes and reblogs (shown below, left). On April 13th, 2020, Tumblr^[13] user alex-shinda posted a Naruto fan art that gained over 410 likes and reblogs in one year (shown below, right).

On Tumblr, BLÅHAJ gained an association with the LGBTQ+ and transgender community in particular, which is reflected in multiple memes posted on both Tumblr^[14] and Reddit in the late 2010s (examples shown below, left and right). For example, on September 6th, 2021, Twitter^[20] user @TheWerelizard tweeted an official advertisement by IKEA in which BLÅHAJ was used to express support for LGBTQ+.

Boys With Plush Sharks

On June 19th, 2021, a 2018 photograph of five young men with BLÅHAJ sharks descending an escalator in the Moscow metro, captioned "me and the boys coming back from ikea (we all bought sharks)" went viral on social media with multiple reposts^[15][16][17] (shown below, left).

In late June 2021, the photograph also inspired redraws. For example, on June 19th, Twitter^[18] user @AimRhytm posted a Haikyuu!! redraw that gained over 11,100 retweets and 11,900 likes in three months (shown below, center). On June 20th, Twitter^[19] user @olldolldraws posted a My Hero Academia redraw that received over 3,000 retweets and 15,100 likes in the same period (shown below, right).

Discontinuation in the UK

On September 26th, 2021, IKEA UK^[21] replied to an inquiry regarding the BLÅHAJ toy missing from IKEA's website, writing that there were supply issues and that the toy would be discontinued in the United Kingdom in April 2022 (tweet shown below).

The tweet prompted viral reactions from users on social media, with many users asking IKEA to reconsider discontinuing the toy (examples shown below).

On the same day, IKEA USA tweeted^[22] that the toy will not be discontinued in the United States. An IKEA representative in Russia also commented^[23] that the toy will remain available in the country.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References