The news went viral after a UK user wrote to the IKEA UK Support Twitter account to find out why the most beloved shark plushie of all time had disappeared from the company’s website.
The support service responded that Blahaj wasn’t available in the UK due to supply issues, adding that the giant shark toys are set to be discontinued starting April 2022.
The UK unit of the Swedish company provided no information on whether the news concerns only Britain, or whether the popular toy will disappear from store shelves across the world.
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However, Blahaj fans began actively urging the multinational group to drop the plan for taking the wildly popular shark out of production, with some writing to their local IKEA stores to inquire about the plushie’s future.
IKEA USA said it didn’t have plans to discontinue the toy. The shark won’t be removed from Russian shelves either, according to the press-office of IKEA Russia as quoted by local business daily VC. Meanwhile, IKEA Australia and Canada have confirmed that Blahaj wasn’t flagged for discontinuation.
Blahaj became an internet sensation three years ago with people adoring the plush fish due to its apathetic face and eyes that look empty and uninterested. Pictures of the IKEA sharks doing normal activities became massively popular with some people launching Instagram accounts for the shark and posting thousands of Blahaj photos. There’s even an entire subreddit dedicated to the plush monster.
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