The world record egg, the brown ovum that won Instagram, finally revealed its purpose on Super Bowl Sunday: And it’s totally heartwarming.
The egg, which has gathered more than fifty two million likes on Instagram since January. 4, was initially posted in an attempt to garner more hearts than Kylie Jenner’s first baby photo, which has eighteen million likes.
Ahead of Super Bowl Sunday, the NY Times revealed the creator of the egg to be Chris Godfrey, a 29-year-old advertising man from London, and 2 of his friends. “An egg has no gender, race or religion. An egg is an egg, it’s universal,” Godfrey said. And it currently stars in a commercial produced with Hulu in support of the nonprofit mental health America.
The egg, which fans and its creators call Eugene, is shown cracking and collapsing. “The pressure of social media is getting to me,” the egg says within the ad. “If you’re struggling, too, talk to somebody.” the website for mental health America then appears.
Experts had estimated the first brand to crack the egg’s market might pay as much as $10 million for the exposure. Nik Sharma of digital agency VaynerMedia told The Atlantic he would even advise clients “to spend on the egg rather than the Super Bowl.”
It remains unclear how much cash, if any, Hulu paid the egg — although the NY Times reported the egg team as being paid an unrevealed amount by Hulu, and that Nick Tran, Hulu’s vice president of brand marketing and culture, pursued the egg. The price of a 30-second ad spot throughout the Super Bowl this year was $5.25 million.
The egg creators, however, say that mental health is just the first cause the egg will stand up for. “It’s not extremely about me,” Godfrey said. “It’s just about the egg and sort of where we can take it and what we can do with it.”