So what accounts for Peeps' appeal as more than a confection? Kerr thinks for a second and cites their adaptability: "You can make a wreath with them or decorate cakes or make a centerpiece."

"They've developed a real personality over time," adds Barratt. "They're colorful, obviously. They're fun. They're squishy."

Never underestimate the power of personality -- or squishiness -- to capture the American imagination. Take to the Internet, and you'll find the alt.food.peeps newsgroup, where Peep fans rhapsodize about finding them when "Peep season" begins shortly after Valentine's Day. They debate the merits of eating fresh Peeps vs. letting them age by poking holes in the packaging. (When Just Born did a customer survey last year, it found that 20 percent of consumers prefer their Peeps stale. Five percent like them frozen.)

And then there are the Web sites. "You must know there are many, many unauthorized sites, which is part of what prompted us to do our own two years ago," says Barratt. "People have spent all kinds of time on them. They take pictures and do all kind of creative things."

Indeed. With all due respect to the folks in Bethlehem, the Internet has become the true home of the Peeps phenomenon. In addition to Just Born's official site -- a cheerful affair featuring crafts, recipes and many, many dancing Peeps -- you'll find dozens of fan-created pages. Many are simple tributes, but some get weirder: There's the aforementioned porn parody page ("The hottest chicks on the Web!") and, predictably, a Peep Dance. One of the oddest pages features Peeps-related lyrics corresponding to several Monkees songs; for example, "I'll Be Back Upon My Feet" becomes "I'll Be Back to Throw Some Peeps." And you thought you had too much time on your hands.

One of the Internet's more established Peeps pages belongs to Philadelphia Web designer Tracy Bannett. Every spring she and her girlfriend, Mia Levesque, post a new gallery of Peep-related photos.

Bannett says she loves the Peeps' aesthetic and believes they have the power to bring out latent inventiveness in adults. "When people get older they have so much anxiety when it comes to doing something creative," she explains. "So sometimes at parties I'll just have Peeps and glitter and markers and pipe cleaners. And I swear, Peeps bring out the creativity in people. All their inhibitions fall by the wayside."

As a vegetarian, Bannett doesn't eat the gelatin-containing creatures. Yet she had an epiphany a few years back when she accidentally barreled over an empty Peeps box with her bike. "Implanted in my brain were the words 'marshmallow Peeps,'" she recalls. "That's all I said for a week: 'Peep peep!'"

As Bannett's Peeps obsession grew, Levesque gave her the ultimate birthday present: a Peep neon sculpture commissioned from a local artist. Bannett proudly displays it in her window every Peep season.

She answers quickly when queried about Peeps' appeal. "They have this combination of cuteness and kitsch and almost repulsion about how bad for you they are. But they're so cute! And innocent-looking, with the little eyes."

The natural innocence of Peeps and Bunnies also attracts Brooklyn, N.Y., artist Spencer Holloway, who says his work deals with "discrimination against the Peep." Some of his first Peep-related pieces showed Bunnies attached to boards with words above them like "jerk" or "asshole."

"It's a pun on taking something that looks so cute and innocent and trying to give it a personality that's not so innocent," he says. "So a person would ask, 'Why did this person just call that Peep an asshole?' Never judge a book by its cover."

Holloway's latest pieces morph the faces of celebrities like Britney Spears onto Bunnies. And he has a Bunny-related vision for the future.

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