We’ve been through a lot as a nation over the past few years. Watching politicians debate scotch eggs, finding out (without wanting to) how Prince Harry lost his virginity, Just Stop Oil’s tomato soup tantrums… so sometimes an event arises that makes you ask yourself: has this all taken a larger toll than we realised on our collective psyche? Are we, in fact, having some kind of national nervous breakdown?
The answer would appear to be a big, fat, pig-shaped yes, given the ‘breaking news’ announcement on ITV’s Good Morning Britain this week that Peppa Pig matriarch Mummy Pig had given birth to her third piglet, Evie.
Peppa Pig is the hugely popular children’s TV programme about preschooler pig Peppa, her little brother George and their pig family and animal friends. A British creation from animation studio Astley Baker Davies, it’s been running for more than 20 years and is broadcast around the world.
Peppa and her family are, of course, fictional characters. But to watch, read or listen to the news coverage surrounding them recently, you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.
It started with Mummy Pig’s ‘pregnancy’ being announced as an ‘exclusive’ on GMB in February. The story was swiftly picked up across the national press, with media outlets gushing that the news caused such a stir it ‘broke the internet’. Then last month came a ‘gender reveal’ at Battersea Power Station (home of the Peppa Pig store), which included a sunset countdown for Mummy and Daddy Pig to reveal a big pink display announcing ‘It’s a girl’. And in case that was a bit too subtle, the chimneys of the power station were lit up in pink too, visible across swathes of London.
Then on Tuesday the ‘birth’ was announced by GMB’s Richard Arnold, who gave the fictional piglet’s time of arrival as the very specific 5.34 a.m. There was also a clip of Gloucester’s town crier announcing the baby’s arrival – fitting, perhaps, considering Evie was apparently delivered in the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, birthplace of our most recent royal heirs.
National news outlets went on to report the story as if it was real: ‘Piglet joy: Peppa Pig’s Mummy Pig gives birth to third baby as GMB reveals first pic and piglet’s sweet name,’ said a Sun headline. As befits a modern celebrity, there was even a Hello! ‘exclusive’: ‘Peppa Pig’s “miracle” baby sister revealed in first look photos.’ The story trumpeted: ‘The family took part in a traditional Hello! photoshoot to formally introduce their new daughter to the world’ – above a series of, obviously, cartoon images.
It hasn’t all been positive, though: some critics have questioned how the family could have afforded as much as £10,000 to give birth in the Lindo Wing, while MailOnline reported an ‘outcry among the farming community’, with claims the show has been ‘disingenuous in depicting how pigs give birth’. No kidding.
What on earth is going on? How has a fictional pig’s ‘baby’ come to warrant the kind of wall-to-wall coverage – and criticism – usually reserved for celebrities and royalty? And a gender reveal – for a cartoon pig? Peppa Pig is primarily aimed at preschoolers. I don’t know any preschoolers who would know what a gender reveal was, nor wish to witness one. So we have to assume this particular gimmick is for the parents. But it leaves parents like me absolutely cold.
The GMB pregnancy announcement involved an interview with Mummy Pig in which she held up an ultrasound and tittered that she was ‘delighted’. The GMB panel followed it with genial chat about how much Peppa has featured in their lives as parents and grandparents, and how Peppa’s appeal is that it is loved by parents too.
I’m sorry, what? Look, yes, Peppa is an almost inevitable part of toddler life these days, but let’s get one thing straight: it is not loved by parents. With none of the zany imagination of Hey Duggee or emotional depth of Bluey, Peppa is the children’s show that we resign ourselves to endure, for that (hopefully) short window of preschool Peppa fandom. Peppa herself is highly irritating – especially when she sings – and every episode is punctuated with annoying giggling from all of the characters.
It once again raises the question: who is this all for? As far as I can tell, the only thing this Peppa baby mania really achieves is patronising parents – or, let’s be honest, mothers. The Peppa Pig Instagram account has a post that declares ‘Mummy Pig is in her influencer era and we’re here for it’. There are videos of Mummy Pig taking you through her day, showing you what’s in her handbag and, of course, some motivational messages: ‘Being a mum is one of the most difficult jobs in the world. We’re in this together and I see you. Mummy Pig xx.’ Pass the sick bucket. It is the toddler-TV-social-media crossover no one needed or wanted. But apparently, in the age of the celebrity rebrand, even a cartoon pig can reinvent herself as a ‘mumfluencer’.
The madness continued when Grazia published an ‘exclusive’ interview with Mummy Pig following the gender reveal, and managed to squeeze in some top mumfluencer buzzwords. When asked how she will manage the financial burden of three children in a cost-of-living crisis (yes, really), Mummy Pig replied that she had plenty of ‘pre-loved’ clothes from Peppa and George to help keep costs low and, of course, ‘it’s very good for the planet, too!’. And in a question on parenting style, she gave a nod to gentle parenting – the no-shouting method favoured by the metropolitan liberal set – when she explained how it’s ‘all about meeting Peppa and George on their level and helping them to express themselves – their big thoughts and feelings – in ways that feel helpful’. And then the nauseating: ‘Kind hands and kind words, as we say.’ Would this kind of absurd waffle ever find its way into a men’s magazine? No, of course not. Only women are subjected to this level of condescension.
When asked how she will manage the financial burden of three children in a cost-of-living crisis (yes, really), Mummy Pig replied that she had plenty of ‘pre-loved’ clothes from Peppa and George to keep costs low
It’s not over now that the baby has been born. For Peppa fans, owners Hasbro have pulled out all the stops with an hour-long ‘cinema experience’ where Peppa meets her baby sister for the first time, featuring ten new episodes and six new songs (best of luck to the parents forced to sit through that). There’s also a ‘welcome baby weekend’ at Battersea Power Station and a ‘meet the baby opportunity’ at theme park Peppa Pig World – I assume Boris and Carrie Johnson have already booked their tickets.
Truly the hoo-ha surrounding this fictional pregnancy and birth takes insanity to new levels. While I’m sure Peppa’s many young fans will be delighted to have some new episodes, and the number of likes on the Mummy Pig social posts suggest some people are enjoying the content, I have a hard time believing the majority of adults will find this relentless publicity campaign anything other than patronising and creepy.
Because real flesh-and-blood mums know that no matter how many ‘pre-loved’ items you have for your baby, you will be forced to throw out at least ten outfits thanks to poo explosions, and that meeting your children ‘on their level’ can be nigh on impossible when attempting the daily Herculean task of getting everyone out of the house on time. Motherhood is not a meme.
And if there is anyone over the age of seven genuinely excited about the Pig family’s new arrival, I have some advice for you. For your own sake and sanity, please, turn off the TV. Put your phone down. Why not read a book?
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