By Christina Acevedo
Peter the Anteater cartoon stickers have been found in various locations around campus since Sept. 24. Started by an anonymous student, the stickers are intended to function as a gift to enhance the school’s culture.
While based on the school’s mascot, the stickers depict what their creator refers to as “Petr.” They are intended to represent an interpretation of Peter that is now unique to the student body and has been helping bring students together.
“I’ve made so many memories here so I wanted to give UCI something to remember me by,” said the creator who has asked to remain anonymous. “I don’t really hope to achieve anything besides making people happy and embedding Petr into UCI culture.”
Petr stickers have been spotted in an elevator, on a directional sign for the schools’ buildings, a vending machine as well as doors and walls.
The creator has taken creative liberties with the Petr stickers and gone as far as to make the search for Petr stickers like a campus scavenger hunt. In some cases, information about where to find the stickers on campus has been posted on social media. In other instances, a riddle leading to the stickers’ whereabouts was issued, and for larger distributions, the creator has given out stickers at specific locations for a short interval of time while in disguise, usually sporting a red beanie, blue gloves, black clothing and a neck warmer to conceal their face.
“It comes off as a bit creepy at first but at this point, the look has become iconic,” the student explained. “The disguise is mainly so that people don’t know who I am… but it’s also to maintain the enigma and mystery.”
Having gained popularity among students, the creator has given others permission to make similar products using their design as inspiration with the condition that the Petr’s are not monetized. This has sparked the development of designs such as holo Petr stickers, a Pokémon-type card, and more recently, the idea of Petr keychains.
“I didn’t expect Petr to hit this hard this fast… I’m just hoping that the love for Petr holds strong for the rest of the year,” the creator said.
The creator of “Petr” has also shown interest in making “seasonal Petr’s.” This idea was implemented this past Halloween with the limited time release of Halloween-themed Petr stickers, known as “spooky Petr’s” on Oct. 26, which depicted a Frankenstein Petr.
According to a post on Instagram, more seasonal stickers like the aforementioned should be expected in the future. The student who makes the stickers has also indicated additional original Petr’s will be produced and that they intend to continue creating Petr stickers for some time.
“A lot of what is to come is confidential so I can’t really share details on that,” they said. “A lot is coming is all I can say.”
The Petr sticker creator has enjoyed the creativity of the sticker process, from creating riddles that lead to Petr’s whereabouts to receiving feedback from an excited student body.
“Every second of this project has been enjoyable and rewarding,” they said. “…giving Petr’s to people is probably one of the best parts because I get to visibly see all these people filled with joy when I hand them a sticker.”
Update (added): Stickers at specific locations for a short interval of time while in disguise, usually sporting a red beanie, blue gloves, black clothing and a neck warmer to conceal their face.
“It comes off as a bit creepy at first but at this point the look has become iconic,” the student explained. “The disguise is mainly so that people don’t know who I am… but it’s also to maintain the enigma and mystery.”