You've Heard of the Elf on the Shelf...

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"You've Heard of the Elf on the Shelf" refers to a series of image macro in which the phrasal template "You've heard of Elf on the Shelf, now get ready for" captions an image of two things that rhyme with each other. The image serves as a punchline for the caption. In December 2020, a variant of the meme, in which the caption is removed and replaced with the hashtag #MyElf, spread on social media.

Origin

On December 3rd, 2016, Tumblr^[1] user fuckin-rockets posted a variation with the phrase "You've heard of Elf on the Shelf." Under that caption, they posted a picture of an Ash Ketchum action figure in a garbage can (the implied rhyme being "Ash in the trash"). The post (shown below) received more than 53,000 notes within 10 months.

Precursor

You've Heard of Bigfoot, Now Get Ready for Smallhand is a word play joke about an unknown rival to the cryptid ape creature Bigfoot. After circulating on Tumblr in July 2015, the joke inspired many variations on the microblogging site using the phrasal template "You've heard of X, now get ready for Y," typically contrasting two diametrically opposed terms.

Spread

On September 14th, 2017, Redditors /r/me_irl subreddit began posting "Elf on the Shelf" variants en masse. That day,^[2] PM_ME_YOUR_CHEETOS posted an image with the caption "You've heard of Elf on the Shelf, now get ready for" and an image of Shrek on a backyard deck in the The post (shown below, left) received more than 19,000 points (19% upvoted) and 200 comments. Redditor^[3] pebblesom posted the character Waluigi on a squeegee (shown below, center), garnering more than 20,000 points (93% upvoted) and 280 comments. Additionally, Redditor^[4] Havokmin posted a picture of Link from The Legend of Zelda on a sink (shown below, right), receiving more than 5,000 points (95% points) and 85 comments.

On September 18, 2017 Twitter published a moments page regarding the recent popularity of the elf on the shelf images.^[5] Several media outlets covered the popularity of the meme, including TIME,^[6] New York Magazine,^[7] BuzzFeed,^[8] Polygon^[9] and more.

On September 17th, Twitter^[10] user @nsarmored frog posted a picture of a plush Pokémon Eevee on a TV. The post (shown below) received more than 27,000 retweets and 58,000 likes in two days.

Airport Photoshop Battle

On December 10th, 2018, the Vancouver Airport in Vancouver, Canada sparked a photoshop battle, when the airport's Twitter account^[11] posted a photoshop of rapper Lil' Wayne atop an airplane with the caption "You've heard of Elf on the Shelf, now get ready for…" The post received more than 1,000 retweets and 3,400 likes in two days (shown below).

Shortly after, other airlines and airports began posting images of celebrities atop different vehicles and airport and airplane items to fit the format. For example, Tampa International Airport posted^[12] a picture of Snoop on a Swoop (shown below, left). RDU International Airport tweeted^[13] Taylor Swift "taking a lift" (shown below, center). Pheonix Sky Harbour Airport tweeted^[14] Thor "on a Condor" (shown below, right).

The following day, Twitter^[15] published a Moments page on the tweets.

#MyElf

#MyElf refers to a variation of the meme in which the caption is removed. In this variant, people must guess the answer without the preamble of the "You've Heard of Elf on a Shelf" prompt. Social media users categorize this version with the hashtag #MyElf.

On December 1st, 2020, actor Garcelle Beauvais posted a version of the meme on Instagram^[16] in which her image sits on the shoulder of music producer Pharrell Williams. The post received more than 22,000 likes in less than three weeks (shown below).

Over the next week, celebrities continued to share the meme, slowly removing the "You've Heard of Elf on a Shelf" caption. On December 4th, for example, actor Mark Ruffalo replied to a tweet^[17] of the game by actor Elizabeth Banks, writing, "I raise you a Stark on a Mark." The post received more than 10,000 likes and 590 retweets in less than two weeks (shown below, left).

Shortly after, the hashtag #MyElf began to spread, with people either guessing what the answer to the photo riddle is or just posting the answer. For example, on December 7th, actor Tracee Ellis Ross tweeted,^[18] "I present to you The Boss on Ross… I just had to join in on the fun! #MyElf." The tweet received more than 3,600 likes and 160 retweets in less than one week (shown below, center). South Korean rapper CL tweeted,^[19] "Adele on CL. #MyElf." The tweet received more than 25,000 likes and 2,000 retweets in less than one week (shown below, right).