Written By: Eighmy Dobbins
Eugene the Egg, or better known as, “@world_record_egg” on Instagram, has become much more than the most liked picture in the world. The Egg has been in the spotlight since it was originally posted on January 4th, racking up 52.5 million likes and counting. The previous world record holder was Kylie Jenner, pictured with her baby Stormi, which received almost 19 million likes. The creator of Eugene the Egg is Chris Godfrey, an advertising creative from London. Godfrey said he chose the stock image egg because it was a universal symbol for people of all ages and backgrounds.
On January 18th, the Egg was posted again. This time, with a tiny crack shown. Later that week, multiple pictures were posted with the cracks getting larger. On February 1st, Eugene was posted with football laces and announced to his 10 million followers that the meaning of his cracks would be revealed on Hulu, following the Super Bowl. Fans speculated in the comments, claiming the Egg was going to pop out Kylie Jenner’s next baby or Tom Brady. Others immediately thought that Eugene was receiving his own documentary on Hulu. But no one predicted a mental health PSA. A one minute video premiered on Hulu Sunday night with Eugene claiming he has started to crack under the pressure of social media, and urged people to talk to someone if they are feeling the same. A link to talkingegg.info was posted below the video, which directs people to mental health foundations in their area.
The video blew up, and people loved seeing the account creator use his large platform to advocate for something much bigger than we expected. Godfrey claims Eugene’s rise to fame was all luck, saying, “mental health is the first of several causes that the Egg will come to stand for.” I am really excited to see what's next for Eugene because his platform could be an effective way to campaign for causes that are prevalent in our society. What makes it even better is that all of this is coming from a universally loved source: a golden-brown egg. Eugene had a fast rise to fame, which usually means he will be old news sooner than we think. But campaigns like this one may be enough to continue his stardom longer.
Eugene has been around for a month now, and so far he has broken a world record, been the center focus of many ads, and been on the digital cover of Paper magazine’s “Break the Internet” annual issue. The world-famous Egg also has a merchandise shop, where you can get hats, shirts, and hoodies to show your support for his message and be apart of the so-called, #EggGang.
Photo credit: Instagram/World_Record_Egg
References:
Bromwich, Jonah and Maheshwari, Sapna. (2019, Feb 3) “Meet the creator of the Egg that broke Instagram.
He works in advertising.” from New York Times.
Hampton, Rachel. (2019, Feb 5) “The Instagram Egg, once a beacon of random viral whimsey, was designed
by advertisers.” from Slate.
Tobin, Ben. (2019, Feb 4) “World Record Egg: From a challenge to social media to a mental health campaign”
from USA Today.
By: Eighmy Dobbins