The Peppa Pig Pregnancy Conspiracy: Exploring Pronatalist Propaganda

Join us as we delve into the fascinating world of pronatalist propaganda, focusing on a rumored Peppa Pig pregnancy plot. We examine modern and historical examples of propaganda influencing birth rates, from Brazil's soap operas to China's recent family-focused initiatives. Additionally, we reflect on personal experiences with baby doll simulators and their impact on attitudes towards parenting. Get ready to explore how media, culture, and policy intersect to shape societal norms around family and childbearing. Special mention to the humorous and controversial promotional campaign featuring Mummy Pig, making waves with its unique approach to celebrating parenthood.

Malcolm Collins: [00:00:00] They did it like a photo shoot of Mama Pig.

And they

Simone Collins: she's like, she's spread out on like a sort of like silk a, a lush silk

Malcolm Collins: showing off her baby bump and like, looking like half naked and like no, it's, it's like

Simone Collins: a total like glamor spread thing. we were given these baby dolls that you had to take home and the baby dolls would cry on a randomized schedule throughout the day and night. The babies looked very realistic, and. They would just start crying in a very realistic way. You had to have them with you all the time, and you would be graded based on your ability to placate the baby doll.

The, the child wouldn't stop crying at night. And so I marched outside and put it in the trunk of my mom's car, which wait, is this, it probably really deserve like disturbed passers by like, it's kind of amazing, like the police pulled in our house.

Malcolm Collins: From the trunk of the car. I didn't,

Simone Collins: I didn't really like. Now when I think about it, like if I came across, I would have a [00:01:00] freaking heart attack. I would literally crowbar that car open in panic. Like I, I just, I can't believe I did that. Like now being a mom, I cannot believe I did that and I feel really bad.

Would you like to know more?

Simone Collins: Hello Malcolm. I'm so excited to be speaking with you today because we did it guys.

We, we and our protist cabal coerced the British media into pumping out

Malcolm Collins: protist propaganda, or this is, this is the rumor going around a YouTuber who I like to watch. Izzy something. She, she paints her face in various like clown things. She did a, a piece on a a, a rumor that's going around right now,

Simone Collins: a conspiracy theory, if you will,

Malcolm Collins: that Peppa Pig recently got the, the mom and it got pregnant.

Yeah, let, let me, I'll,

Simone Collins: I'll give, I'll give the overview. Okay. And I'll, I'll also link to her video in the pinned comment because it's so good and her channel's just delightful and she's amazing. But basically what happened is Mummy Pig, who is the mother of the popular British cartoon character, Peppa Pig, who is the fourth most in demand cartoon character [00:02:00] in the world, she has her own theme park.

Okay. It's like she's a big deal. In case you don't know. She's the reason why many American kids have vague British accents. Which is great. And so the mother mummy pig announced on TV on live morning TV on Good Morning Britain, that she was pregnant.

Now my next guest is the matriarch of an entertainment at Dynasty. And now I'd like to welcome in her first ever interview someone we're all very excited to meet.

It's Mummy Pig. Mummy Pig. Good morning. Welcome to the show. Gosh. Well, I'm excited to share that our family is getting even bigger because. We're having another baby. I'm due in the summer and we are all so excited. That is amazing. Congratulations. How are you feeling about it?

Oh, thrilled. A little overwhelmed at the thought of having three children under five running around,

Simone Collins: and [00:03:00] then mummy pig's pregnancy and birth. Was covered even more in media outlets.

It was covered in magazines, it was covered in live events, et cetera. The first, it was announced on the news. It was, yeah. But more than that, it was announced by a, a, a British town crier. Like apparently there's this thing in the UK where like, if you want to, you can hire a town crier in full royal looking regalia to say, here you, here, you the, sort of the same way Royal babies were announced, in fact.

Allegedly you know, Peppa Pig's little sister and she already has a little brother George. So this is the family's third baby, but her little sister, Evie, was born in the Lindo wing of St. Mary's Hospital in London, which is the same wing where Kate Middleton has given birth to her children. That's like 7,000 pounds plus a night.

The rooms are really pretty. Well no, and people, this is a big scandal

Malcolm Collins: because everyone was like, wait, they didn't use the NHS, you know, they think they're too good for the nhs.

Simone Collins: Honestly, though, like. This, this one influencer lesbian couple [00:04:00] that I, I follow had had twins recently, like in NHS hospitals. And I'm like, woof.

Like I, I get why they shell that we would shell out, but also seriously, like given how much we pay in the United States with insurance, but we pay out of pocket to recharge deductible. Just to have a kid really. We, we are expected to pay $11,000 upfront, well before the birth, just to give birth at a normal hospital, though the rooms are much ni nicer than NHK Hospital.

So I don't know. Anyway, that's aside from the point, the, the, the Peppa Pig campaign around this birth, they also partnered with UK's National Childcare Trust. But that, that org is to be fair, primarily interested in helping people who are already bullish on having kids. And they, they were able to raise money through this, even did like a sponsorship with Clear Blue.

Like I think they showed

Malcolm Collins: well, yeah, mama and, and Daddy. Daddy Pig was Daddy Pig called Clear Blue Box of this is a pregnancy testing company in the United States. It's [00:05:00] like branded pregnancy testing. It was the one where there was a rumor that started that if you broke them open, they had plan B inside them.

Oh my God. Yes, yes. And it turned out it was a

Simone Collins: desiccant and people were like. Encouraging people to eat. Oh my God. Right. I forgot about that. Yes, that clear blue. And then, you know, of course the, the Peppa Pig franchise also released 10 episodes about Baby Evie's arrival where, you know, and you can also buy like a movie version of this called Peppa the Baby.

But then people started on posting on social media that this was an effort to counter falling birth rates in Britain. And so. I, I freaking love that. I love that. Go watch like Izzy Dizzy, Izzy or Izzy something. Again, we're gonna link to her videos. She, she, she's way bigger than us. She's like a million subscribers.

So still this is all to say whether this was propaganda or not. Propaganda is underrated. It, it is. It is [00:06:00] quite. Powerful despite costing countries relatively nothing. And you know, keep in mind here that Hungary is spending between five and 6% of its, of its GDP on trying to raise birth rates through all these cash handouts that aren't really working.

So that's equivalent to what the US is spending on its defense and military. Just to give you a sense of perspective here. And,

Malcolm Collins: and their, their birth rate went up less than neighboring countries, and that is its lowest rate ever. Now. So the, the point here that we're getting to is one we did not actually