blahaj, a stuffed animal sold by a company that is the number one consumer of wood in the world. it becomes extremely popular because of memes, more people buy it. i dont get it comrades, it seems like pandering to me. ikea isnt like boeing in terms of awfulness but its existence is resulting in increased deforestation around the world. the ikea stores act as cultural embassies for sweden, they provide a sanitized commodified disneylandesque experience of sweden which really helps their public image on the world stage when they are allowing hate crimes against muslims to occur in their country, but hey, buy the toy shark, trans rights, consume treats, all being trans is is buying useless shit with the pride flag on it from corporations that wouldnt have hired you ten years ago but now want your money. in conclusion blahaj is a class traitor, embrace neopets, i sure hope theres no weird shit going on there like a christofascist owns it and is donating money to trump, and no i didnt look up anything about neopets, im just assuming theirs something bad there too. i wonder how right i am about that?

  • AcidSmiley [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I bought mine for the meme and quickly found out the toothy friend is just amazing for emotional support. You get a decent-sized plushie for a good prize and the overall shape is very huggable, blahaj just works very nicely as a comforter. Mine got me through a lot of rough patches in that critical timeframe before i could start HRT, the one where every day is a war against your own body and the wait list simply crushes you.

    Also sharks are misunderstood, stigmatized beings. They are often portrayed as predatory monsters, but actually play a vital role as a keystone species in marine ecosystems, exactly like trans folks.

  • AlicePraxis [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    its existence is resulting in increased deforestation around the world

    as much as I hate to defend a massive corporation, I don’t think this is actually true. IKEA claims to use 99.9% FSC-certified wood, so it’s coming from forests where the trees are planted at the same rate that they’re harvested. it makes sense for companies to do this even from a profit-driven perspective, since it would be quite bad for their business if there weren’t enough trees

    the main cause of deforestation is agriculture, especially animal agriculture. 80% of de-forested land in the amazon rainforest is being used to rear cattle