Peppa Pig is a long-running children’s show that follows the exploits of a British pig named Peppa, along with her family and townspeople. Peppa’s father, Percy, is a fan favorite on the show, but when curious viewers took to the internet to find out details about their favorite porcine characters, people were shocked by Daddy Pig’s height.
Daddy Pig is 14’2” according to Google. No one is quite sure how this height was arrived at, and Hasbro, the company that now owns the rights to Peppa Pig, has never verified this height as being canon, nor did its predecessor, Entertainment One.
Read more below about Peppa Pig’s creation and rise to one of the longest-running shows on television, just how people arrived at Daddy Pig’s height, and how a random Google search sparked a viral meme.
Preschool Production
Peppa Pig is an animated children’s show, geared toward preschoolers, with each episode being roughly five minutes long. The show revolves around a family of anthropomorphic pigs, with the main character being the oldest child, Peppa.
The show was created by Neville Astley and Mark Baker in the year 2000, but ultimately debuted in 2004. Despite its simplicity, the show was a huge hit and won a BAFTA for its first season.
Speaking of the idea for the show, co-creator Mark Barker, said, “When Peppa came out, there were a lot of children’s characters that didn’t really have a family, or parents. Our experience was that children don’t like laughing at themselves, but do like laughing at their parents. By having a Mummy and Daddy Pig, we could get humour in without having to laugh at the child character. Animal stories are good for children because they give you licence – a pig is allowed to be messy – and animation works because it’s one step removed from reality, so children feel safe watching it.”
Not only was it a ratings winner, but it has become a cash cow, with over $1 billion in revenue from merchandise in 2019 alone. Children everywhere have Peppa Pig toys, clothes, books, and school supplies.
Prodigious Pigs and Social Media Swine
However, one day, things took a strange turn on the Internet, when someone decided to Google how tall Peppa is, and they were surprised to find Google stating the answer was over seven feet tall. In fact, the Google result claimed Peppa was the same height as legendary NBA player, Shaquille O’Neal.
Internet users had a field day, and Peppa Pig and the character’s height went viral, with numerous memes and social media posts made regarding the seemingly giant pig. Even more startling, if Peppa was over seven feet tall, it meant her parents were even taller.
Creative web patrons took it upon themselves to figure out the heights of Peppa’s relatives, taking to social media forums, such as Reddit, to post their calculations. The media caught wind of the viral story, and even major publications like the Huffington Post and news stations like CNN reported on the story.
You can watch a video about the eyebrow raising height of the characters in the YouTube video below.
Porcine Profile
In reality, pigs run the gamut in size and height, but an average pig stands about three feet tall. However, it must be taken into consideration that the characters on Peppa Pig walk on their hind legs, unlike their real-life counterparts.
Full-grown pigs often reach lengths of up to 71 inches, which would be just shy of six feet tall if a real pig were to stand on its hind legs. Though that is still considerably less than the estimation of Daddy Pig’s terrifying stature.
Perpetual Porkers
Since the story first broke in 2019, Peppa’s height is now listed as a much more reasonable and realistic 3’9” on both Google, and also a popular fansite dedicated to the television show. Daddy Pig’s height, however, still remains at 14’2” as Google’s top result.
Given that neither Hasbro, nor Entertainment One ever commented on the media circus surrounding the controversial heights of its characters, no one knows for certain if these heights are accurate, or the work of someone who knows how to manipulate Google results and rankings. Either way, this children’s show will be cemented as a viral sensation on the internet forever.