 The painting features in a popular internet meme in Russian online culture.It has been described by Victor Sonkin in "The Moscow Times" as having "gained vast popularity with the speed of an avalanche".Its popularity in Runet led to the bear's speech balloon being changed from "Surprise" to ""Preved"", a made-up word that combines the Russian word "privet" ("hello" or "hi") and "medved" ("bear").