A free Snoopy t-shirt and TikTok is helping blood donations rise

Hospitals are always in need generous volunteers to give blood - and it turns out a t-shirt of the nostalgic Snoopy is encouraging more people to donate.

The American Red Cross has partnered up with the Peanuts brand to create an exclusive t-shirt with the iconic dog from our childhood, as alter-ego “Joe Cool” on display as he casually leans up against the American Red Cross symbol.

With people receiving the free t-shirt after giving blood, the rate of first-time donors has risen as people run to get their hands on one while the collab is available from April 1-23.

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Donors will also get a a print of a Snoopy and Belle comic strip, plus a sticker of the Peanuts gang, while supplies last.

“It’s been really great to see so many young folks so fired up by this particular partnership and realizing that maybe their fear of needles or other concerns aren’t as bad as what they thought they might be,” Darren Irby, the executive director of national brand partnerships at the Red Cross told NBC News.

He noted that the non-profit collaborated with Peanuts due to the brands "cross-generational appeal," with web traffic up on their appointment page rising by 50 per cent and organic search has skyrocketed by 600 per cent in recent days.

So it's no surprise that the Snoopy t-shirt has gone viral on TikTok with people sharing videos of themselves donating and wearing the t-shirt.

Cathy Chang (@uh…o_o) posted a brief 6-second TikTok about the shirt and showed herself donating blood to get one, which received 4m views.

Cathy Chang went viral on TikTok after sharing how she donated blood to get the Snoopy t-shirt TikTok/uh...o_o

"POV: you donated blood to get the red cross x snoppy t-shirt," @j_diddy3 wrote with a video of getting the freebie which has 1.1m views.

Meanwhile, TikToker @frankipea showed her boyfriend donating blood in order to bag herself the exclusive t-shirt and the clip has received 1.5m views.

Elsewhere, it seems that a fear of needles isn't stopping people from giving blood in order to get a Snoopy t-shirt as @big_bread_warrior joked in a video.

"I love Joe Cool so much," he added in the video that has 337,000 views.

People have also been showing the Snoopy t-shirt some love in the comments section and have expressed their desire to donate blood to get the item of clothing themselves - despite some of their needle fears.

One person said: I absolutely hate needles but I would do this for the shirt.

"I have such a bad fear of needles but I'd donate for a shirt," another person wrote.

A third person added: "How do I find a location that does this??? Please help I want one so bad."

"This is probably the most donations they have received in so long so good on Tiktok spreading these [videos]," a fourth person replied.

"Glad the people are finally aware of the adorable shirts the red cross gives out this isn’t their first slay," someone else commented.

And that's true, since the American Red Cross has teamed up with other popular franchises such as Game of Thrones and Wonder Woman.

So, we'll perhaps see a lot of people sporting Snoopy t-shirts if TikTok is anything to go by, with @meganashly_ sharing her prediction of the shirts popping up in vintage clothing stores in years to come.

"I'm calling it right now that in about 30 years the Snoopy x Red Cross Give Blood shirt is going to be one of the greatest thrift finds of that generation - kids are going to go wild for that s***."

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