It's not unusual to have a YouTube video you're watching interrupted by an ad — I seem to spend more time enduring adverts than watching actual video content these days — but one ad I was shown the other day was unlike any other I've seen.

The seemingly homemade video featured shots of a cow-print stuffed toy with dead eyes and an unnerving smile, and was accompanied by a playful ditty consisting of largely nonsensical lyrics. The weirdness of the whole thing had earned it a curious google search.

The website behind the ad, itemLabel, describes itself as "revenge-based company" that was created to "show up and embarrass our enemies." I contacted itemLabel to ask what exactly they meant by this, but didn't get a response. Mysterious.

Each plush sold by itemLabel comes with a jokey but often ominous description — like the original Peepy, whom, "after committing a dangerous and disrespectful crime ... is out on bail and ready to come to your house," or the Mistake Peepy, whose page reads: "The factory made this guy by accident, get rid of it."

^{Peepy product page on the itemLabel website}

There's very little information about itemLabel online, but Peepy and his fellow stuffed creatures have a relatively small but dedicated fan base who share photos of their plushes getting up to no good on Reddit and X.

One such fan is Adam, who, like me, came across itemLabel via the "Peepy's Theme" ad on YouTube. Asked what drew him to the plushes in the first place, Adam said: "They are cute little alien criminals — what more do you need to love them?"

Fair enough.

My pizza came with weird toppings @itemLabel pic.twitter.com/ZL213tIQgL

— Metadata Rosenberg (@UnmutualSix) March 11, 2024

Taking my new fugitive out on a date!!! @itemLabel pic.twitter.com/nh5c7H1uKq

— Misa 🎀 (@misanite) March 14, 2024

The toys' uncanny appearances and mildly threatening auras are what Peepy owners seem to enjoy most — one customer wrote online that she "screamed 'EWW!' multiple times" while opening her order — and itemLabel give the people what they want by regularly posting silly (and vaguely unsettling) Peepy content across their social media platforms.

"The complex lore that itemLabel has given us over the years is another thing that keeps me interested," Adam said.

Reddit user Husky, another fan of Peepy's online presence, told me they "immediately fell in love" with the toys after discovering the itemLabel store.

"The sense of humor in the ads was incredible, and perfectly encapsulates Gen Z's internet humor."

Never letting this guy behind the wheel again pic.twitter.com/bYpCmqnBjf

— itemLabel (@itemLabel) March 15, 2024

@itemlabel YOU FOOL! You thought this was the OuiOui of good fortune? #itemlabel #badluck #ouioui ♬ original sound - itemLabel

But itemLabel haven't just provided their customers with cute toys and fun content — they've also given them a community.

"There's always some sort of game or fun conversation going on [in the Discord server]," Husky said. "Overall, the itemLabel community is pretty unproblematic and that's why I love it."

An X post shared by Adam, in which he shows off a very extensive Peepy collection, highlights how much this obscure company has ended up meaning to those who have stumbled across it.

"I've gotten to talk to so many wonderful people over the years solely because of the itemLabel community," he wrote. "I'm looking forward to many [years] to come."

[Image credit: YouTube / itemLabel]