Teens Love the Strawberry Cow Pillow Pet

The beloved Pillow Pet has inspired art, music, and makeup looks and has a cult-like following on the internet.

Kristin Merrilees
2 min readJul 4, 2020
Walmart

Perhaps millions of kids grew up listening to the now-famous slogan “It’s a pillow, it’s a pet, it’s a Pillow Pet!” on their televisions. As the name states, Pillow Pets were popular amongst so many for both being a cuddly pet and a functional pillow.

But now the brand is being given new life with the Sweet Scented Strawberry Milkshake Cow Pillow Pet, more commonly known as just the “Strawberry Cow.” The Strawberry Cow had been made before but had been discontinued. That is, until earlier this year when Pillow Pets announced that they were bringing it back.

Hype around the Strawberry Cow began to build (in large part due to TikTok and Twitter) — and when preorders went up on June 15th, it sold out within an hour. Since then, the Strawberry Cow has developed a devoted fanbase of teens and a cult-like following on the internet.

People have also begun obsessing over the Webkinz version of the Strawberry Cow:

GANZ World

There’s even an entire aesthetic around the Strawberry Cow, and people have been making related music and art. @/_bbgrill_ on TikTok created a song about the Strawberry Cow to the tune of “Strawberry Blond” by Mitski.

There’s Strawberry Cow-inspired art and animation…

And Strawberry Cow-inspired makeup looks…

And even Strawberry Cow-inspired clothing items.

This isn’t the first time that the internet, especially TikTok and Twitter, have caused a product to skyrocket in popularity and even sell out. But the love for the Strawberry Cow is truly unlike anything I’ve seen before, and is likely in part due to the nostalgia associated with Pillow Pets.

While the Strawberry Milkshake Cow is currently sold out, the Pillow Pets team has announced that it is being restocked soon — and teens could not be more excited. Due to its immense popularity, they’ve also announced the release of a Chocolate Milkshake Cow, coming this October.

I write about culture, Gen Z, technology, and education. Read more of my work on my website or follow me on Twitter.

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