Lead the Meerkats was released in the midst of a boom in popularity for the African mongoose in the United Kingdom, started by a series of commercials for the Compare The Market insurance comparison website depicting a rivalry between the website and "Compare the Meerkat", a fake website run by Russian meerkats. This led to a very high demand for meerkat-related merchandise, meerkat exhibits in zoos, and pet meerkats. Since Lead the Meerkats was published by UK-based Lapland Studios, it is very likely that the game was inspired by, or made to cash in on, the fad.