“I’ve been seeing all over my ForYou page – that viral Snoopy with the puffer coat,” said Isabella Diakomanolis (@justbeingbella) in a TikTok video posted last month.
She was lucky to find several of the plush toys.
“Guys, I literally see people selling these on Ebay for like $70,” she said. When Audacy checked Ebay this Tuesday, the toys were selling for as much as $169, an increase of more than 1,000% over its retail price.
Gen Z is primarily behind this surge in prices for the plushie, which sells for $15 at retail stores like CVS, according to NPR. Its popularity is just one aspect of the generation’s obsession with Snoopy, a decades-old cartoon character.
According to the Peanuts website, the black-and-white-beagle first appeared on Oct. 4, 1950. He loves books, reads Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” at the rate of one word per day and writes books. Snoopy is also a collector of fine art and is a root beer connoisseur, per the site.
“Plus, his unstoppable imagination helps keep his life anything but ordinary. As the Flying Ace, he heroically battles the Red Baron,” it said. “As Joe Cool, he is the big dog on campus. But no imaginary adventure matches a nap on his doghouse – and waking up to a well-deserved supper made especially for him by that Round-Headed Kid.”
Snoopy started wearing the puffer jacket seen on the now-viral toy in 1984.
This year, Snoopy has had a Renaissance. In April, Vulture reported on the @snooopyiscool TikTok account run by a Canadian high school student. She first went viral when her artist sister, @itsgrovy “posted a video explaining that her little sister only uses her phone to make fan edits of the Peanuts character,” in December 2022, Vulture explained. That video currently has 15.8 million views, and Snoopy Sister’s account now has more than 550,000 followers on the app.
Last month, Elise Hannum wrote about Gen Z’s Snoopy love for The Atlantic, which includes social media memes, clips and stills as well as sold out merch beyond the puffer jacket toy. It said that the beagle might just be the hero the young generation needs.
Melissa Menta, senior vice president of marketing and communications for Peanuts Worldwide, said that the company worked with its curriculum partner during the pandemic to create activity sheets. She said that lead people to feel like “Snoopy was helping,” during that difficult time, and that social media has allowed Snoopy to have a new wave of popularity.
Snoopy’s official TikTok account saw a 223.8% increase in engagements between the second and third quarter of this year. That’s the highest growth the company has seen, Menta said. Gina Huntsinger, director of the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, Calif., told NPR this week that its Instagram reach has been up over 200% the past month. Engagement highest among 18- to 24-year-olds.
Additionally, the museum has seen its highest attendance in its 21-year history this past quarter. Young blood donors made up the majority of those who turned out to a Red Cross blood drive to get Snoopy shirts. American Red Cross spokesperson Daniel Parra told NPR over email that nearly 400,000 shirts were distributed.
He’s been a beloved character for generations, but why has Gen Z taken to Snoopy so much?
Since Snoopy is often left alone by the Peanuts kids, Hannum said his experience might particularly resonate with people who grew up amidst the isolation of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Snoopy is also a silent character. He’s expressive and has thought bubbles.
Don Presnell, a senior lecturer at Appalachian State University who taught a class on Peanuts this fall, said the four panel strips Snoopy originally appeared in are similar to memes now popular online. Snoopy’s silence might also be relatable to Gen Z.
A study out of Australia found that Gen Z prefers texting to talking on the phone and that 60% dread making or receiving calls.
Snoopy creator Charles M. Schulz, who died in 2000, said the character’s “whole personality is a little bittersweet,” and added that, “he’s a very strong character,” that “can win or lose, be a disaster, a hero, or anything, and yet it all works out. I like the fact that when he’s in real trouble, he can retreat into a fantasy.”
Earlier this year, Business Insider noted that “Gen Z humor is complex, inspired by absurdism and a fast-moving social-media landscape,” another reason why they might connect with Snoopy.
Audacy’s “It’s Generational” podcast also tackled Gen Z humor this year. Comedy duo Syd & Olivia explained that their humor “is like post-postmodern,” and “Gordita Chronicle” writer Brig Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz said: “I think Gen Z is brilliant. I love them. They’re my favorite generation. I think they’re going to save the world. I think they are so sharp and self-reflexive and self-satirical without being self-deprecating.”
As for the Snoopy plushie’s spiking prices, Hannum said that it is being driven by people wanting to show that they were part of the Snoopy moment.
“There is a certain amount of ‘I was there, I got this thing at the peak of the Snoopy craze,’” she said.