Berries and Cream

About

Berries And Cream, also known as The Little Lad Dance or I'm A Little Lad Who Likes Berries And Cream, is a viral song and dance originally featured in a Starburst commercial in 2007. The song and dance are performed by an anachronistic, old-fashioned British character called "Little Lad." The commercial was initially used for remixes and mashups on YouTube, but saw a resurgence in 2021 after podcaster Justin McElroy posted the song and dance on TikTok, which became widely used to express a sense of feeling unusually old-fashioned, especially in terms of appearance.

Origin

The original commercial was released in March 2007 to advertise the new Berries and Creme flavor of Starburst. The commercial (seen below) was directed by Randy Krallman and starred actor and dancer Jack Ferver as the Little Lad, who speaks with a high-pitched British accent.^[1] The Little Lad has been referred to as an "elf," "pilgrim" or "Victorian schoolboy," as well as being compared to Lord Farquaad from Shrek.

The original commercial was widely viewed online when it first aired with multiple uploads of each commercial amassing millions of views. In response, Starburst created a video with the Little Lad teaching people how to perform his song and dance (seen below).

Spread

Over the late 2000s, YouTubers would create multiple remixes and mash-ups of the original commercial. Among the most popular were remixes by YouTuber WheresMeLuckyCharms (shown below, left), which received over 2 million views as of 2021, and another by YouTuber Jeff Nowak (shown below, right), which received over 57,000 views as of 2021.

TikTok Resurgence 2021

The commercials faded into obscurity over the 2010s but remained a frequent reference point for Justin McElroy, oldest of the McElroy Brothers. On January 12th, 2021, McElroy uploaded a clip (seen below) of the Little Lad's instructional video to TikTok^[2] with the caption, "Please make great art with this sound, its what we all need." As of September 2021, the sound has been used in over 37,000 videos, and the original video has received over 160,000 likes.

The original sound was not widely used until later in 2021. On July 27th, TikToker^[3] yeetboishmoney posted a video (seen below, left) of the dance using McElroy's sound. The video received over 250,000 likes in a month. On August 7th, TikToker^[4] taxidermyglampire posted a video (seen below, right) of the dance in a Starbucks uniform, referring to the chain's Pink Drink strawberry beverage. The video received over 370,000 likes over the same period.

On August 10th, TikToker^[5] yazwrld posted the earliest recorded example of the dance to refer to an outdated and archaic, rather than retro, form of fashion. The video received over 310,000 likes in a month (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References