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Frame from House Hippo Commercial Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

House Hippo Commercial

Bruce
Comedy
YouTube
Cited on HN 3 times, 2018–2023, never outright recommended score 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Used as a joking reference when threads discuss fake news, hoaxes and gullibility.

A one-minute Canadian public-service spot about a house hippo, a hoax that makes the point that you should not believe everything you see on television.

1 citations · 2 jokes · Comedy

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@Kibae Sep 2022 Cites it
on HN thread I fooled millions into thinking chocolate helps weight loss (2015)
I remember growing up in Canada, there were commercials about "house hippos" [1] and the first time I saw the commercial, I actually believed what was being presented. Thinking back, I think the campaign actually worked on me because it made me realize how obviously fake things can be made to seem real if it's presented by a seemingly authoritative figure. [1] [this video]
@Null-Set Feb 2018 Makes a joke
on HN thread Cognitive Ability and Vulnerability to Fake News
The article reccomends a PSA teaching the metacognitive skill of asking yourself why you believe something and if you know any reason it isn't true. It reminds me of the legendary Canadian House Hippo PSA. [this video]

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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