Blåhaj the IKEA Shark: Trans Icon, Viral Social Media Star, and Beloved Stuffed Animal

David Witzke

During reading break, I decided I was going to IKEA. My main goal was to buy a stuffed shark. Its trademark shark is named Blåhaj, a blue shark that comes in a variety of forms but most commonly in the form of a three-foot-tall stuffed shark. I knew I was going to write this article after I saw a series of IKEA ads about Blåhaj being a Japanese realtor who helps build tiny homes in Japan. Ergo, I was convinced that Editor-in-Chief Seth Schouten would let me buy one for the office because who does not want a giant, stuffed shark in their office? Yet when I finally bought the shark, I realized that I did not want to buy it for the office: I wanted to buy it for myself. So I bought it for myself. Sorry Mars’ Hill, this shark is all mine.

Blåhaj has an interesting effect on people. The fullsize shark is somewhat impractical, namely because it is the size of a small child, and at close to $40, is not exactly a cheap stuffed animal. Yet there is something intrinsically magnetic about Blåhaj. There is no shortage of articles on Blåhaj, whether detailing their rise to viral fame in Russia, their ever-increasing popularity on Tiktok, or how the shark became a trans icon in early 2021. The shark has a fairly large following online with 66,000 members in the r/blåhaj subreddit. It is thought that Blåhaj rose to prominence largely by people posting the shark doing human activities like dining at a table, taking a shower, or reading a newspaper. The shark struck a chord with the transgender community, possibly after IKEA released a series of Swiss ads in favour of same-sex marriage in 2021.

When IKEA announced they were discontinuing the product last year in the UK and in China, social media was afire with people concerned for their beloved Blåhaj. While the product is not being discontinued in the U.S. or Canada, users were still concerned about the shark’s impending demise. A thread on Chinese social media Weibo had over 72 million views and spawned 10,000 comments at the time when insider.com reported on the issue last October.

Blåhaj is a curious little shark. Its existence provides an easy story for arts and culture journalists to latch onto—a fluff piece with all that you could ever ask for in a viral story. It is an evergreen story of communities around the globe embracing a stuffed IKEA shark. It makes for great journalism, but it is hard to understand Blåhaj without seeing it for yourself. Nothing will ever match the feeling of getting into the IKEA elevator with a random assortment of adults—each of whom has their own boring carts full of furniture and candles—while holding my Blåhaj proudly. It is a reminder that each of us deserves a little joy, even if that joy is only a stuffed shark the size of a small child. But seriously, who would not want a Blåhaj?