Peppa Pig’s baby gender reveal couldn’t be more silly if it tried

Peppa Pig and her cartoon parents are staging a real-life gender reveal for their new piglet? Wake up and smell the bacon, people!

Yes, that’s right, on Friday night, the family will descend on Battersea Power Station in London to announce whether they are having a boy or a girl (spoiler: It’s a girl).

The idea of this shindig has me snorting like silly Daddy Pig.

First up, the whole gender reveal concept is hogwash, in my opinion, and something that should be made as extinct as George Pig’s beloved ‘dine-saws’.

To be fair, I’ve never been to a gender reveal party, but I’ve seen the parade of videos on TikTok: The cutesy cupcakes, the towering balloon arches, the dogs reluctantly sporting huge, coloured bows or with their fur dyed…

Then there’s the poor friends and family who already face being summoned to See The Baby, marshalled into attending baby showers, baptisms and birthday parties, then maybe nativities, school plays, sports days and so on… is this what the future will hold for Miss Rabbit, Grandpa Pig and Madame Gazelle, too?

That said, I accept that tastes differ and of course, being pregnant is a special and exciting time, and expectant parents want to share the joy with their near and dear. So I understand why some people choose to celebrate their impending arrival in this way – if said arrival is an actual, real human being.

But a fictional pig? Give me a break!

My own sons passed quickly through their Peppa Pig phase, but I’ve sat through my fair share of episodes.

I’ve always considered it among the less bad content that parents of young children are subjected to.

I like the fun and silliness of Peppa and her pals– and I’ve always encouraged my boys to jump in muddy puddles. Then there’s the close family bonds depicted, the characters’ ability to not take themselves too seriously, and Peppa’s curiosity about the world.

When news of Mummy Pig’s third pregnancy emerged – revealed live on Good Morning Britain in February, no less – I’ll admit it seemed like a good opportunity for a down-to-earth, empathetic show to deal with the topic of expanding families in an age-appropriate way.

But having Mummy and Daddy Pig do their porcine gender reveal at London’s Battersea Power Station on Friday night, lighting up its iconic chimneys in pink and blue, feels like one ham-fisted gimmick too far.

This fuss and fanfare – taking over a highly visible and significant public landmark for something that is essentially a family matter – is ludicrous.

I appreciate that there are worse things going on in the world to worry about and maybe I shouldn’t be getting my tail in a twist over a cartoon.

But I, for one, won’t be taking my kids to watch four pigs celebrate in a cloud of pink smoke/slicing into a pink cake/releasing pink balloons (choose your gender reveal stereotype) in the name of a £1 billion cartoon franchise.

Oh, Peppa. As you like to say: ‘You’re doing it all wrong!’

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