2021 / Video / TikTok nostalgia revival and creator-led character comedy
Berries and Cream (The Little Lad Revival)
A 2007 candy-commercial jingle came back fourteen years later, and the Little Lad was ready to dance again.
The original is off-site. HAHrchives preserves the story and a route back to it.
What was this?
Users recreated the tiny jig, remixed the jingle, and treated the Little Lad’s earnest weirdness like a recovered artifact from an internet childhood. Ferver responded by reviving the character on TikTok and YouTube, adding new dances, monologues, and precisely the kind of strange lore the original ad had only hinted at.
Why it spread
The sound and dance moved through TikTok remixes, stitches, costumes, and mashups. Mars Wrigley embraced the organic revival with an official Little Lad costume campaign, while Ferver’s creator account gave the character a second life that was not dependent on anonymous ad reposts.
What happened
Users recreated the tiny jig, remixed the jingle, and treated the Little Lad’s earnest weirdness like a recovered artifact from an internet childhood. Ferver responded by reviving the character on TikTok and YouTube, adding new dances, monologues, and precisely the kind of strange lore the original ad had only hinted at.
Where it came from
Starburst’s 2007 “Bus Station” ad introduced Jack Ferver’s Little Lad: a bobbed, period-costumed character who interrupted a conversation to sing and dance about Berries & Creme. In 2021, podcaster Justin McElroy posted the old audio to TikTok with an invitation to “make great art,” and the sound finally caught fire that summer.
Why it mattered
Berries and Cream is nostalgia functioning as a collaboration, not merely a repost. A deliberately ridiculous 2007 commercial found a new audience, its original performer came back to play along, and the internet got to turn a tiny dance tutorial into a shared 2021 ritual.
How it spread
The sound and dance moved through TikTok remixes, stitches, costumes, and mashups. Mars Wrigley embraced the organic revival with an official Little Lad costume campaign, while Ferver’s creator account gave the character a second life that was not dependent on anonymous ad reposts.
Keep going
The same corner of the internet
Look at your man. Now back at me. Now look at the internet trying to keep up.
Louis Theroux’s old documentary rap got remixed, revived, and suddenly every timeline wanted to wiggle wiggle.
Soon may the Wellerman come—and, for a few months, everybody on the internet knew the harmonies.
A Pop-Tart cat flew through space until your browser became a rainbow loop.