In response to AsiaOne’s queries, Ikea Singapore confirmed that the plushie “is still in [their] range and will not be discontinued”.

Apart from saying that Blahaj is currently not available “due to supply issues”, Ikea UK also mentioned that the iconic one-metre-long shark toy “may only be available for a short period of time as it is set to be discontinued from April 2022”.

Ikea Ireland also told a concerned Twitter user that Blahaj is “currently on a supplier delay until mid/end October” and is “due to be discontinued April 2022”.

This was enough to send the internet into a frenzy.

The panic spread overseas, prompting other netizens to badger Ikea outlets in their own country to enquire about the plushie.

It turns out that the discontinuation is regional — a tweet from Ikea US confirmed that it “doesn’t have current plans to discontinue this product”.

As for Singapore, the plushie is currently still in stock at Ikea’s Jem outlet at the time of writing.

While there is currently no news that Ikea outlets in China will be discontinuing Blahaj, distressed Chinese netizens flooded Weibo with the hashtag #PopularIKEAToyToCeaseDevelopment, which has since amassed over 300 million views.

And it seems like they are panic buying Blahaj there too. One Weibo user said that they saw many people purchasing the shark and decided to follow suit despite having to lug the shark home in the pouring rain.

Blahaj fans are so dismayed that there’s even an online petition on Change.org in hopes of getting Ikea to change their mind. At the time of writing, the petition has 4,536 signatures.

On Reddit, a subreddit thread called r/savetheblahaj was also created.

A Reddit user even came up with a list of places around the world where Blahaj is “under threat of extinction” — talk about dedication.

For the uninitiated, Blahaj — which is Swedish for  “blue shark” — is a soft toy that’s sold exclusively at Ikea.

It has been around for quite some time, but it gained popularity in 2019 when netizens started posting photos of it doing human-like activities like reading a book, cooking and having a meal with its friends.

Text: Melissa Teo/AsiaOne

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