Wardrobes, shelving units, tealights (and a million allen keys): Ikea is known around the world as a one-stop shop for all your flatpack needs. But, thanks to a quirk of linguistics, there's another item to add to the list next time you're stocking up on Pax, Billy or Ivar: foul-mouthed consumer protest.
In Hong Kong, a kids' big bad wolf soft toy with the characteristically friendly-sounding Swedish name "Lufsig" has become an unlikely symbol of political dissent. Lufsig has sold out in the territory's three Ikea stores, has racked up over 46,000 "likes" on its own Facebook page and was last seen being chucked at Hong Kong's chief executive CY Leung during a town hall meeting.
With a plaid shirt, toothy grin and a fairytale granny popping out of his stomach, Lufsig ("fond of play and mischief" according to Ikea's website) has inadvertently hit on a trifecta of Hong Kong touchstones – a love of rude homonyms, the chance to shop for limited-edition items, and real concerns about the city's political future.
Since taking charge of the government last year, CY has been nicknamed "the Wolf" – a reference not only to his name (it's similar to the Chinese character for wolf) but also to a perception that he has favoured China's interests over Hong Kong's. Leung's inaugural speech was entirely given in Mandarin – seen as a pointed decision in a territory where the majority speak Cantonese – and there has been rising tension over issues like mainland investment, high property prices and cross-border "birth tourism" straining limited hospital resources.
It's also the way that Lufsig's name has been translated. The characters used on Ikea's Chinese website sound innocuous in Mandarin. But when they're pronounced in Cantonese it sounds too close to a sweary insult (involving a part of your mother's anatomy you'd probably rather not think about) to be missed by anyone familiar with Hong Kong's "mo lei tau" pop culture. This is a kind of goofy wordplay popularised in films by Steven "Shaolin Soccer" Chow and seen in local shops like G.O.D. with their cheeky "Delay No More" catchphrase (an English transliteration of another common way of insulting someone's mother). That wolf has turned out to be bigger and badder than Ikea ever could have imagined.
