Finals week is often filled with stress and the pressure of trying to pass grueling exams. Luckily, a tiny foam tiger named Ralph has risen to the occasion to help combat the stress of the many tests.
Jayson Hill, director of communications and marketing at Auburn University Libraries, created Ralph in 2019 at the request of Dean Shali Zhang.
Hill worked tirelessly trying to find good tiger designs online, until he stumbled upon the “Jungle Tiger” model of stress toys. From there, Hill ordered a starting batch of 2,000 Ralphs with the Auburn University Library branding on them.
The stress tigers can be found in the Ralph Brown Draughon Library during winter and spring finals week and are available for students to take at their choosing.
During winter finals, Ralph can be found on a “book tree” on the second floor of the library, ready to be seized by students. However, spring finals present a different challenge since Ralph is hidden throughout all four floors.
Abigail Higgins, instruction and student success librarian at the library, helps hide the Ralphs in the spring. She usually wears a backpack full of Ralphs when hiding them, sneakily avoiding the mass of students prepping for finals.
“I think it’s a fun break for some of [the students] to take, like a five minute walk around the library and not be focusing on something stressful, and to have something relaxing,” Higgins said.
Ralph first appeared in hidden locations around the library in the spring of 2023. Before the scavenger hunt and book tree, Ralph was originally handed out exclusively at instructional opportunities the library offered, until Hill decorated the famous book tree with the stress tigers in 2021.
“We just started putting [the Ralphs] on trees and just let [the students] take them,” Hill said.
From there, Ralph grew into a permanent fixture of the library.
Ralph first began garnering mass popularity on Instagram when Hill brought Ralph along for his road trips over the summer.
Hill posted a picture of the stress tiger with the hashtag “Ralph on the Road” during his vacations. In order to gain more virality online, the stress tiger was given the name Ralph in that moment.
In the summer, Ralph traveled from Fort Monroe, Virginia, to Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, and even to Washington, D.C., accumulating fans along his trip.
“Social media 100% blew up the whole Ralph thing,” said Victoria Tran, the former social media manager of the Ralph Brown Draughon Library and an Auburn alum.
After Ralph was given a name, a personality was established for the foam tiger, allowing for easier marketing and familiarity.
“When you see Ralph, you think of the library,” Tran said.
Tran spent three years in control of the Auburn University Libraries Instagram account, setting a new standard for library promotion. She created Instragram stories, reels and posts centered around the tiger, ultimately increasing the following of the account by 2,200.
Eventually, the demand for Ralph grew after his popularity sky-rocketed due to the social media campaigns. Everyone wanted a Ralph as soon as word of mouth got around campus.
At first, Hill started with a couple thousand Ralphs for the library. Today, over 50,000 Ralphs have been handed out to Auburn students, faculty and members of the community. 20,000 more Ralphs have been ordered online for years to come.
“[Ralph is] just cute, you know, he’s small, he’s squishy, he’s got a cute face,” Higgins said.
Despite Ralph's cuddly appearance, he serves a practical purpose. Hill noted that many Ralphs showed signs of wear and tear from being squeezed, a testament to their effectiveness during stressful times.
“[Ralph] seems to make people happy. There’s something about picking up a Ralph for the first time and holding it, you can see people smiling at it, and the fact that it does make people happy has just been outstanding,” Hill said.
Each year, the demand for Ralph has grown. This year is no different, with thousands of Ralphs ready to be given away to students who visit the library amid finals week.
“He's been embraced as an emissary of the library,” Hill said.
Retiring this winter, Hill has overseen the creation and marketing of Ralph for five years, ever since Ralph’s birth. Starting out as a simple toy to relieve worry, Ralph has evolved into an Auburn icon.
Alongside Ralph, the library is holding a mixture of different events to encourage students to visit the library and use it as a resource to help them in their studies.
Events include yoga, postcard creations, a screening of the movie “Elf,” puzzles, free food giveaways and much more.
Students can visit the Ralph Brown Draughon Library to study for finals and partake in these events, as well as potentially gain a new friend in the form of a tiny foam tiger.
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Sam Bainter, freshman in English language arts education, is a culture writer for The Auburn Plainsman.
