The House Hippo is the fictional subject of a series of television adverts intended to educate about distinguishing fact from fiction in advertising.
The advertisement goes as follows:
The North
American House Hippo is a fictional creature that can be found throughout
Canada and the Eastern United States. The House Hippo is a very timid creature and is rarely
seen. While normally a quiet animal that prefers to stay unnoticed, the House Hippo is very territorial and will defend its territory if provoked. The House Hippo comes out at night to search for food and
water. The favourite foods of the House Hippo include
chips, raisins and the crumbs from peanut
butter on
toast. The House Hippo will come out at night to search for materials for its nest. They tend to build their nests in bedroom closets with mittens, dryer lint and bits of string.The House Hippo sleeps 16 hours a day, only coming out to search for food and
water and materials for its nest. Also, due to their timid nature, they chose to only come out at night while you are most likely are sleeping.
The House Hippo Commercial series was made in
Canada to make children aware of how gullible they can be and to teach them to not believe everything they hear. The television advertisement was produced by the Concerned Children's Advertisers (CCA) of
Canada, and is currently adored by Canadians of all ages.citation neededUnfortunately, many of the kids who should have received the message currently suffer from ADD and do not catch the end of the commercial that explains the fictional characteristic of the House Hippo. Evidently this results in the wide spread belief by many ignorant and stubborn
people that House Hippos actually exist. A
popular example is Bradley Wakler, a 15 year old boy with E.S.
L. who could not distinguish the meaning of the last sentence, and needed phycological treatment to eradicate the belief in House Hippos.
