Petr stickers were originally created in the fall of the 2018 school year by the Instagram account @petr_the_anteatr. Although the original Petr creator graduated in 2019, the legacy of the Petr stickers continues and became an important part of UCI’s school spirit. Since then, Petr drops have become a phenomenon with over 50 new accounts on Instagram creating their own designs.
The cartoon stickers of “Petr” a student rendition of UCI’s school mascot Peter the Anteater, are given out for free, in various locations around campus, at random times of the day upon reveal on Instagram. The designs are inspired by a variety of themes, such as pop culture icons, K-pop idols, anime characters and video games. However, they all use the same base template. Petr creators distribute the stickers while remaining anonymous by fully masking themselves during the drops.
Petr drops have integrated themselves into UCI student culture over the past four years, raising the question: What causes Petr stickers to be so successful amongst UCI students?
Associate teaching professor of psychological science Joanne Zinger spoke in an interview with the New University about the psychological appeal of these Petr stickers. She attributes the success of the Petr drops to its mysterious aspect, physiological arousal and scarcity mindset.
“One thing that I think is a big contributor [to its success] is the mystery surrounding it,” Zinger said. “You don’t know who makes the stickers. The people handing out the stickers are wearing masks. We don’t know the date and time of the drop till right before. All this mystery makes it exciting.”
Using Instagram stories to announce the time and location of a Petr drop, the scavenger hunt for these stickers garners hundreds of UCI students to run across campus to find them. Crowds of students can be seen sprinting through Aldrich Park in the pursuit of finding a sticker, signifying a drop is happening to nearby students.
“Running raises our physiological arousal,” Zinger said. “It increases our blood pressure and heart rate. Anytime you have increased physiological arousal, it makes our emotions feel more intense. In fact, we’re likely to misattribute the cause of the arousal to the sticker. It really is the running that gets our heart rate up so high, but seeing as our heart rate is still elevated when we receive the sticker, our brain gets confused.”
Over the past few years, the Petr stickers have become valuable collector’s items. Some students turn to the UCI Reddit page r/UCI to ask for trades of specific stickers that they weren’t able to get or are no longer being dropped.
“Another thing that’s important [to the drops] is the scarcity,” Zinger said. “There aren’t enough stickers for everyone, and they might run out while you’re waiting. It convinces us that the stickers are extra valuable because, as humans, we associate scarcity with value. While waiting in line, you might get worried that you might not get a sticker. That worry increases our physiological arousal again.”
Students often display their personal collection of Petr stickers, whether that is putting them on their laptops or water bottles.
“These stickers evoke emotion. The stickers are cute, so they produce happy feelings. When we get the stickers, we share them on social media,” Zinger said. “Research shows that one of the key factors in whether a poster campaign becomes viral is [its ability to] evoke strong emotions. This is why the Petr stickers have become such a phenomenon.”
In an interview over Instagram, one of the Petr accounts @petr_the_kid talked about their perspective on the success of the drops through the lens of a creator. According to them, the stickers have created a community for Petr creators and participating students alike.
“When I started, the whole concept of wearing a mask to give out stickers to strangers was so fascinating to me that I had to at least try it,” they said. “The more I spent working on designs and interacting with the community around it, the more I grew to love what I became a part of. I enjoy sketching and making designs, so the artsy side is a great creative outlet as a STEM major.”
Another Petr account, who requested to remain anonymous for the sake of protecting their identity, found creating Petr stickers a way to alleviate their stress and worries from school.
“I started creating Petr stickers because getting stickers from other Petrs made me really happy,” they said. “I was struggling with school and life in general, but I always looked [forward] to the Petr drops. So, I thought why not just make my own? Being a Petr is sort of escapism for me as it allows me to disassociate myself from my real life and all the problems that come with it.”
With an increase in the popularity of the Petr stickers, the large hordes of running students have raised safety concerns this past year, ranging from pushing and shoving to some even getting concussions.
Petr accounts have responded to this recent issue by introducing safety policies to drops. @petr_the_mouseketr posted an Instagram highlight titled “RULES” with updated safety policies on Oct. 19. Many other Petr accounts followed suit and enforced similar safety measures as well.
Under the new guidelines, students are not allowed to ride bikes, scooters or skateboards to get to the drop site. Consequences for breaking these rules include not receiving a sticker and getting kicked out of line.
“If I hear anything about someone getting knocked down or trampled, I will call off the drop immediately,” the Instagram story reads.
Zinger explains the potential aggressiveness of large crowds, attributing it to a social psychological concept called deindividuation. Deindividuation is a phenomenon in which people engage in seemingly impulsive and sometimes violent acts in situations in which they believe they can’t be personally identified.
“You forget about your own personal morals and norms,” Zinger said. “It becomes a little bit of this mob mentality. All of a sudden, you start subscribing to the morals and norms of the group, which may be pushing people, being rude or rushing. Because of all the excitement, you almost lose your own identity and get swept up in the crowd. That can happen when arousal is high, when there are a lot of people and when there is anonymity.”
The Petr accounts have reportedly not witnessed any violence or foul play since implementing the new measures. Regardless, the Petr community continues to emphasize the importance of having fun and enjoying the stickers.
“I do it simply because I’m having fun and hundreds of others are having fun as well,” @petr_the_kid said.
Elaine Cha is a Campus News Intern for the fall 2022 quarter. She can be reached at emcha@uci.edu.
