Snoopy is everywhere right now — from jewelry to pimple patches. Why?

by

Clara Spars, raised in Santa Rosa – the town where Charles M. Schulz lived – always believed all cities had statues of the “Peanuts” characters displayed around them, as she did growing up.

Spars noticed the sculptures all over town—at the Santa Rosa Plaza, Montgomery Village, and even outside the Empire Cleaners downtown. So, when her family moved away and she didn’t see Charlie Brown and his friends anywhere, she was really confused.

She used to feel empty, but that’s changed now that the beagle has become incredibly popular, appearing on everything from skincare to high-end purses. Even Spars herself owns a Baggu x Peanuts earbuds case and often receives Snoopy-themed gifts.

“It’s so funny to see him everywhere because I’m like, ‘Oh, finally!’” Spars said.

Music

Ben Folds, a talented pianist and pop-rock songwriter, wrote the songs for the new ‘Snoopy Presents’ musical. This followed his decision to leave his position with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, a move he made due to disagreements with Donald Trump.

Snoopy merchandise has been especially popular this year, coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the “Peanuts” comic strip. However, Snoopy’s current influence on popular culture and retail goes beyond just anniversary excitement. Sony, which recently gained majority ownership of the “Peanuts” franchise, estimates the brand is now worth half a billion dollars.

Snoopy has always been a beloved character. While Charlie Brown is the central figure in the “Peanuts” comic strip and most adaptations, Snoopy quickly became the most popular character. In fact, a 2001 New York Times poll showed he was readers’ top choice, receiving 35% of the votes.

The huge popularity of Snoopy we’re seeing today really took off with the rise of social media in the early 2010s, according to Melissa Menta, a senior vice president at Peanuts Worldwide.

That’s when the company first noticed a surprising amount of interaction with their brand, according to Menta. She believes the popularity of “Peanuts” on social media was mainly due to the comic strip being a good fit for visually-focused platforms like Instagram.

Menta pointed out that while people don’t really read newspaper comics anymore, the format – a series of four pictures – is surprisingly similar to how we use Instagram carousels today.

Then, in 2023, Peanuts Worldwide launched the campaign that made Snoopy truly viral.

Television

I remember when Franklin first showed up in Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts” comics over 50 years ago! Now, Apple TV+ is telling his story in a special called “Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin,” and I’m excited to finally learn how he came to be a part of the gang.

The brand teamed up with the American Red Cross that year to design a t-shirt for people who donated blood. The shirt, featuring Snoopy’s cool persona, Joe Cool, and the slogan “Be Cool. Give Blood,” quickly went viral online. As a result, the Red Cross saw a 40% jump in donation appointments within the first week of the partnership, and a surprising 75% of those donors were 34 years old or younger.

“People went crazy over it,” Menta said, and journalists started asking her, “Why?”

Her answer? “Snoopy is cute and cool. He’s everything you want to be.”

The partnership between the Red Cross and Peanuts was a big hit, so they teamed up again this year with four new t-shirt designs. Fans of Snoopy and Woodstock quickly responded, scheduling 250,000 blood donation appointments across the country within a month of the new collection’s release.

Beyond its work with the Red Cross, Peanuts Worldwide has partnered with a wide range of retailers this year, including high-end brands like Coach and Kith, as well as popular chains like Krispy Kreme and Starbucks. According to Menta, sales of Peanuts-branded products are at an all-time high, with over 1,200 licensed partners operating in nearly every country – a fourfold increase from 40 years ago.

Looking back, it’s amazing how much control Charles Schulz had. He didn’t just approve of ideas for Peanuts merchandise – he could flat-out reject anything he didn’t like! And everything about how Peanuts was licensed and used was meticulously detailed in a document everyone called ‘the Bible,’ as Carla Lazzareschi, who used to write for the Times, explained. It was his world, and he made sure everything stayed true to his vision.

According to a 1987 article in The Times, new Peanuts licensees received a large, five-pound binder – measuring 12 by 18 inches – that carefully outlined the established poses and personalities of each character. It went into great detail; for example, Snoopy was described as an outgoing beagle who often daydreamed. The guidelines even specified how Snoopy should hold a tennis racquet.

Entertainment & Arts

Despite the huge success of his “Peanuts” comic strip – which had been running for 15 years and even graced the cover of Time magazine – Charles Schulz was listed as “whereabouts unknown” by his high school class at their 25th reunion in 1965.

Licensing has grown significantly over the years, but Menta explained that she and her team at retail development always strive for more than just putting a character on a product. They aim to stay true to Schulz’s original stories, and with a vast collection of 18,000 ‘Peanuts’ comic strips available, licensees have ample inspiration to work with.

Rick Vargas, head of merchandising and marketing at BoxLunch, explained that his team frequently looks through the Peanuts archives for ideas and content that customers will enjoy.

Vargas explained that there are always opportunities for innovation as long as you continue to explore what intellectual property has to offer, and new products can always be developed.

According to the executive, this year has been particularly successful for BoxLunch in terms of “Peanuts” sales, especially Snoopy merchandise.

Daniella Yacobovsky, who co-founded the popular jewelry brand BaubleBar, said their latest “Peanuts” collection also sold very well.

According to Yacobovsky, dedicated BaubleBar customers get very excited whenever the company releases new products featuring popular characters and franchises, bringing those beloved figures to life in a new way.

Our most popular item, the Peanuts Friends Forever Charm Bracelet, sold out within a day! We’re also getting great ideas from customers about new products inspired by their favorite Peanuts stories.

Peanuts Worldwide has been working to attract younger customers, especially those from Generation Z, who have shown a lot of interest in the brand. Recently, they partnered with Starface, a popular skincare company known for its acne patches. The Snoopy-themed stickers created for the collaboration quickly sold out on Ulta.com, and Starface is already receiving requests to make more.

“We know it’s a certified hit when resale on Depop and EBay starts to spike,” Schott said.

A similar situation occurred in 2023 with a CVS Snoopy plushie wearing a puffer jacket—arguably his most popular version online. It quickly sold out in stores and then began appearing on eBay, where it was being sold for over three times the original price.

The culprits were Gen-Zers fawning over how cute cozy Snoopy was, often on social media.

According to Hannah Guy Casey, a senior director at Peanuts Worldwide, the official Snoopy TikTok account has seen significant growth. In 2024, it gained 1.1 million followers and generated 85.4 million views with 17.6 million interactions. This year, the account has continued to expand, adding another 1.2 million followers and reaching 106.5 million views with 23.2 million engagements.

Guy Casey pointed out that TikTok is a key platform for connecting with the brand’s Gen Z audience.

The platform is incredibly popular with Snoopy fans, who create and share everything from funny memes – like those featuring his puffer jacket – to collections of his most charming and relatable scenes. Some Snoopy fan accounts, including one focused on a Snoopy plushie who loves music, have gained over half a million followers.

Caryn Iwakiri, a speech therapist at Lakewood Tech EQ Elementary in Sunnyvale, is a big Snoopy fan. After seeing a TikTok video of the Charles M. Schulz Museum decorated with Snoopy themes, she decided to visit. She discovered the museum was celebrating the 75th anniversary of “Peanuts”!

It’s a familiar story for Schulz Museum director Gina Huntsinger.

Last December, the place was really crowded. I was near the front, chatting with people, and on a whim, I asked a group of them what brought them there.

The friends had come all the way from Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas to Santa Rosa, inspired by a TikTok video they’d seen, to check out the museum.

The Schulz Museum is having a record-breaking year for visitors, according to Marketing Director Stephanie King. Attendance for the 2024–2025 season is almost 45% higher than it was last year, marking the most visitors since the museum opened in 2002.

Huntsinger said she’s enjoyed watching young visitors experience the museum in new ways.

Instead of the usual activities like tracing comic characters or coloring, Gen Z visitors to the museum’s education room are now drawing Snoopy in the style of today’s pop culture – reimagining him as members of the band Pierce the Veil or the singer Charli XCX.

Huntsinger explained that when the team posts content online, young people engage with it in meaningful ways. They’re discussing it, and she finds the resulting interactions to be lively, imaginative, and inspiring, giving her a positive outlook on the future.

Laurel Roxas had a similar experience, first encountering “Peanuts” as a child while playing the “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron” video game on their PSP. For Roxas, who is Filipino American, it was Snoopy, rather than the human characters in “Peanuts,” who really stood out.

“Nobody was Asian. I was like, ‘Oh, I’m not even in the story,’” they said.

Roxas explained that Snoopy’s simple design made it easy for people to imagine themselves in his place. They felt the same way about Hello Kitty – because both characters lack strong defining features or much dialogue, they become open slates onto which viewers can project their own personalities.

Roxas and their brother went to the Snoopy Museum in Tokyo last year. They loved it so much they bought tons of Snoopy souvenirs—basically everything they could find!—and had to get an extra bag just to carry it all home.

Some fans worry there are now too many Snoopy products available, and this could diminish what makes the character special.

Hollywood Inc.

Disney invests $1 billion in OpenAI, strikes licensing deal

As a kid, nothing signaled the holidays quite like the return of the “Peanuts” animated specials. Looking back, I think what really resonated with me – and still does – was knowing these weren’t things you could watch year-round. That feeling of them being fleeting, available only for a short time, is what made them so magical, according to creator Bella Shingledecker, and I completely agree.

Seeing popular items like Snoopy cookie jars piled high at stores like T.J. Maxx makes her feel a little down now.

She said it feels like these items aren’t really wanted. And for people who do buy them, she wonders if they’ll still like the style next year.

Lina Jeong, for one, isn’t worried that Snoopy’s star will fade.

Jeong’s love for Snoopy came from her parents, who were big fans of “Peanuts” and collected books about the comic. However, she truly fell in love with the character when she first saw “Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown,” and now makes it a Valentine’s Day tradition to watch it every year.

Voices

Contributor: Thank goodness for ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’

Charlie Brown’s struggles during the holidays mirror the mix of hope, loneliness, and worry that many people experience.

Last year, still heartbroken from a recent breakup, she unexpectedly found herself crying while watching Snoopy create Valentine’s Day gifts for his friends.

Jeong explained that, possibly due to everything that had occurred, they were particularly moved by the fact that the show highlighted the importance of friendship over romantic relationships.

She found a lot of comfort in “Peanuts” back then, and she knows many people feel the same way, particularly when it comes to Snoopy.

“Snoopy is such a cultural pillar that I feel like fads can’t just wash it off,” she said.

She also mentioned she’s planning to bring her “Peanuts” coffee table books to her apartment in Los Angeles soon.

Read More

2025-12-23 14:07