The Little Lad character from the Starburst Berries and Cream commercial dancing with raised hands and a wide grin.

Berries and Cream

2007viral videoresurgent

Published October 17, 2026

Berries and Cream is a 2007 Starburst commercial featuring a goblin-like British character called Little Lad who sings a jingle and performs a jig about the candy's new flavor. The ad bred YouTube remixes before fading, then came roaring back on TikTok in January 2021 when podcaster Justin McElroy reposted the clip, turning the song into a sound for mocking anachronistic fashion and goofy moods.

advertising memes delayed virality memes tiktok sound trends earworm memes dance memes

Overview

Berries and Cream, also called the Little Lad Dance or I'm A Little Lad Who Likes Berries And Cream, centers on a short, pageboy-cut character in Puritan or Victorian schoolboy attire who chants the title phrase in a high British squeal while performing a stiff, hopping jig1. Viewers compared the Little Lad to an elf, a pilgrim and Lord Farquaad from Shrek, and much of the humor rides on actor Jack Ferver's full-committed delivery inside a 30-second candy ad2.

On TikTok, users lip-sync the chant while filming anachronistic outfits, pageboy wigs, archaic poses or Starbucks aprons riffing on the Pink Drink strawberry beverage3. A typical post plays the audio over a slow pan up a dated-looking outfit, with the Little Lad's cadence timed to a reveal. The sound also gets attached to captions about feeling cursed, dollish or stuck in another century6.

Origin & Background

Platform
TV commercial / YouTube (2007), TikTok (2021 revival)
Creator
Unknown
Date
2007

Starburst released the Berries and Creme spot in March 2007 to promote a new flavor of the chewy candy. Directed by Randy Krallman and starring actor and dancer Jack Ferver as the Little Lad, the 30-second ad showed a man at a bus station buying the flavor from a vending machine, triggering the Little Lad's appearance and song-and-dance routine1. Starburst followed up with an instructional clip that walked viewers through the choreography step by step3.

The commercial drew millions of views across multiple YouTube uploads shortly after it aired, and the Little Lad quickly earned nicknames like elf, pilgrim and Victorian schoolboy from online commenters6. Starburst itself is the product's publisher, not the meme's originator; the format that spread on TikTok a decade later was fan-driven, with the Little Lad's performance supplying the raw material.

How It Spread

Late-2000s YouTubers chopped the commercial into remixes and mash-ups. A WheresMeLuckyCharms edit of the Little Lad passed 2 million views, while a Jeff Nowak remix drew over 57,0006. Interest faded across the 2010s, but the ad stayed a running inside joke for Justin McElroy of the McElroy Brothers podcast network.

On January 12, 2021, McElroy uploaded the Little Lad's instructional clip to TikTok with the caption "Please make great art with this sound, its what we all need"4. By September 2021, the audio was attached to more than 37,000 TikToks and the original post had collected over 160,000 likes6. Mainstream usage caught on that summer: on July 27, 2021, @yeetboishmoney posted a dance version using McElroy's audio that drew over 250,000 likes within a month5.

On August 7, 2021, @taxidermyglampire filmed the routine in a Starbucks uniform tied to the chain's Pink Drink strawberry beverage, logging over 370,000 likes7. Three days later, @yazwrld posted the earliest documented edit that used the sound to flag archaic rather than retro fashion, with the clip collecting over 310,000 likes in a month8.

Timeline

2007-03

Starburst airs the Berries and Creme commercial directed by Randy Krallman, starring Jack Ferver as the Little Lad[1].

2007

Starburst releases an instructional follow-up teaching viewers the dance[3].

2021-01-12

Justin McElroy reposts the Little Lad instructional clip to TikTok, asking users to make art with the sound[4].

2021-07-27

TikToker @yeetboishmoney posts a dance performance set to McElroy's audio, reaching 250,000+ likes[5].

2021-08-07

TikToker @taxidermyglampire films the routine in a Starbucks uniform, tying the sound to the Pink Drink[7].

2021-08-10

TikToker @yazwrld posts the earliest documented edit that reframes the sound as a tag for archaic fashion[8].

2021-09

By this point the audio appears in more than 37,000 TikToks[6].

Frequently Asked Questions