February 04, 2019
@world_record_egg/Instagram
Sorry, Kyle Jenner: Millions and millions of people like this plain brown egg posted to Instagram.
The mystery surrounding the anonymous World Record Egg Instagram account cracked wide open on Super Bowl Sunday.
Over the last several weeks, the account has surged in popularity after its first photo – the image of a single egg – became the most-liked post of all time. In a report from the Atlantic, marketers were calling a potential partnership with the anonymous account the best opportunity for a company — better than any Super Bowl commercial.
More than two weeks after its record-breaking post, the account started posting new photos of cracked eggs that went un-captioned and unexplained. People online guessed it would reveal itself to announce a presidential campaign, a new TV series, or even the State of the Union address.
Then the Instagram account posted a photo of the same cracked egg but with the laces of a football up its side on Saturday, right before Super Bowl Sunday. "The wait is over," the post read. "All will be revealed this Sunday following the Super Bowl."
Finally, a video promoting mental health awareness was added to the World_Record_Egg account on Sunday. In the video, the egg quips, "the pressure of social media was started to get to me." A ironic stance to take for an account that is predicated on just that.
The video had been viewed more than 5.2 million times as of Monday morning. Now, the World_Record_Egg account links to a website with resources like Mental Health America and the Jed Foundation.
Interestingly, Hulu jumped on a sponsorship deal with the account. Behind its paywall, Hulu was the first to play the video of the egg cracking from the pressure of social media.
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