At 75, Snoopy is culture's top dog

THE 'PEANUTS' CHARACTER'S STAR HAS BEEN RISING IN RECENT YEARS, ESPECIALLY IN MERCHANDISING

- BY MALIA MENDEZ

AS A CHILD, Clara Spars, who grew up in Charles M. Schulz's adoptive hometown of Santa Rosa, Calif., assumed that every city had life-size “Peanuts” statues dotting its streets. After all, Spars saw the sculptures everywhere she went — in the Santa Rosa Plaza, at Montgomery Village, outside downtown's Empire Cleaners. When she and her family left town and didn't stumble upon Charlie Brown and his motley crew, she was perplexed. Whatever void she felt then is long gone, since the beagle has become a pop culture darling, adorning all manner of merchandise — from pimple patches to luxury handbags. Spars herself is the proud owner of a Baggu x Peanuts earbuds case and is regularly gifted Snoopy apparel and accessories. “It's so funny to see him everywhere because I'm like, 'Oh, finally!'" Spars said.

The spike in Snoopy products was especially pronounced in 2025 with the 75th anniversary of “Peanuts,” a.k.a. Snoopy’s 75th birthday. But the grip Snoopy currently has on pop culture and the retail industry runs deeper than anniversary buzz. According to Sony, which recently acquired majority ownership of the “Peanuts” franchise, the IP is worth half a billion dollars.

To be clear, Snoopy has always been popular. Despite his owner being the “Peanuts” strip’s main character and the namesake for most of the franchise’s adaptations, Snoopy was inarguably its breakout star. He was the winner of a 2001 New York Times poll about readers’ favorite “Peanuts” characters, with 35% of the vote.

But the veritable Snoopymania possessing today’s consumers really exploded with the social media boom of the early 2010s, said Melissa Menta, senior vice president of global brand and communications for Peanuts Worldwide.

That's also when the company saw the first signs of uncharacteristically high brand engagement, Menta said. She largely attributed the success of “Peanuts” on social media to the comic strip’s suitability to visual platforms like Instagram.