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Most recently, the house hippo was revived in a 2019 ad by Ontari0-based MediaSmarts that warns modern audiences about the dangers of misinformation on the internet. It's inspired t-shirts, the name of a band and even an urban dictionary page. With Canadians seeing the House Hippo as a nostalgic piece of Canadiana, the choice was made to use the hippo again to remind Canadians to question what they see not only on television but the internet. A new commercial was also created, mimicking the format and tone of the previous commercial from 1999. In May of 1999, a commercial would debut on Canadian television that against all odds, would become part of the Canadian consciousness. The commercial, which was produced by Concerned Children’s Advertisers, would bring introduce the idea of a House Hippo to Canadian culture.
Those tiny hippos in your house? They’re back to teach us about ‘fake news’
You can even by hand-made House Hippos, house hippo art prints, t-shirts and much more. The North American House Hippo is officially listed as being “found across Canada and the Northeastern United States”, though it’s a well known fact that they primarily live up here in the True North. Myself and 37 million other Canadians are lucky to call the True North our home.

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Pablo Escobar’s hippos: A growing problem - BBC.com
Pablo Escobar’s hippos: A growing problem.
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Proximity to the coast, the fault line or an expensive zip code will most likely raise your rates. So if there’s any chance you’ll run into Kim Kardashian at your local supermarket, you might want to prepare to pay a little more. You won't need an old newspaper for this one - it's recent enough that youtube will do. In 1999, The Concerned Children's Advertisers released a 60 second advertisement as part of the Break The Fake campaign, with the intent of educating children about critical thinking in regards to advertising. "It didn't receive a ton of attention at the time, it didn't win industry accolades and it didn't make us famous. It's only now that the kids who saw that ad are online and in advertising that we're getting the impact of it." But what happens when it feels like we live in an age where everything is like the house hippo?
What’s a Canadian House Hippo?
The House Hippo was cute, funny, and relatable, and it resonated with Canadians of all ages. The House Hippo was also successful in achieving its goal of promoting critical thinking among children. The CCA reported that after the House Hippo commercials aired, there was a significant increase in the number of children who questioned the advertisements they saw on television. The House Hippo also serves as a reminder to question what we see and to be critical of the media we consume.
"There's something about them that's cute. It's the idea of taking this giant, enormous creature and turning it into something really cute and small." "I think Malcolm [Roberts] said, 'How about a tiny animal that lives in your house?'" Dempsey told Freshdaily. "He had a young son at the time and thought it might be kind of magical."
The House Hippo commercials were created using a technique called forced perspective, which is a visual illusion that makes objects appear larger or smaller than they actually are. The technique was used in classic films like "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit," and it was also used in the House Hippo commercials. Now I plan to show my students the youtube clip, observe their reactions, and teach them how to spell hippopotamus. Then, prompt some further classroom discussion about the video and it’s authenticity.
The Canadian House Hippo: An Introduction
Misinformation is running rampant online, and with the advancements of AI, images and text can be faked. Today, the House Hippo may not be as prominent as it once was, but it still holds a special place in the hearts of Canadians. The House Hippo is a nostalgic reminder of a simpler time in Canadian culture and a symbol of the power of creativity and responsible advertising.
Their favourite foods are chips, raisins and the crumbs from peanut butter on toast, and they sometimes make a rare appearance at breakfast for the chance to find their beloved peanut butter on toast crumbs. The house hippo was a part of many of our childhoods (if you are a certain age). Now, it’s bringing awareness to #BreakTheFake and teach kids about digital media literacy. They are incredibly shy, so unless they’re really craving PB toast crumbs, or you’re up in the middle of the night, you’ll likely go your whole life without ever seeing one.
Teaching in Seoul
Add on a high crime rate and location on a large fault line, home insurance premiums also tend to be slightly higher. As such, it can be a little more expensive to set up a home in LA and insure it. Los Angeles has been the mecca for those pursuing a career in acting, music or general glamour for decades.
It is a priority for CBC to create products that are accessible to all in Canada including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. So those who are California dreamin’ might land in this sunny, star-studded city for a fun place to settle down. Keep yourself and your belongings protected — contact Hippo for a home insurance quote today. People like to live green in the Golden State, as evidenced by the fact that Los Angeles is the number one market for solar panels in the United States.
The House Hippo was created by the advertising agency, John St., for the Concerned Children’s Advertisers (CCA), a non-profit organization that aims to promote responsible advertising to children. The CCA wanted to create a campaign that would encourage children to be more critical of the advertising they saw on television and to understand that not everything they saw was real. In the late 1990s, a strange and adorable creature made its way into Canadian homes through a series of television commercials. The creature was the Canadian House Hippo, a tiny hippopotamus that lived in the walls and under the furniture of Canadian homes.
The new ad is part of a media literacy campaign called Break the Fake. I don’t feel as though it’s getting better or easier to navigate misinformation online. I don’t have the answers, but it’s evolving, quickly, and education is a great starting point. The House Hippo may not have been real, but the science behind the commercials was very real.