Hulu Teams With World Record Instagram Egg on a Mental Health Ad The creator has been revealed as a London advertising agency executive.
By Steve Dent
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This story originally appeared on Engadget
The world-record Instagram egg, now with 10 million followers and liked over 52 million times, has used its fame for good. After teaming with Hulu, it appeared in a Super Bowl ad promoting mental health awareness, particularly when it comes to (yep) social media. "Recently I've started to crack... the pressure of social media is getting to me," the caption reads as the egg breaks apart. "If you're struggling, talk to someone." The egg is then made whole again, with a link to Mental Health America's website.
Hulu's Egg reveal is a mental health PSA which I lovepic.twitter.com/Mb46prevKR
— Alexandra Able (@AlexandraAble) February 4, 2019
Ahead of the reveal, the New York Times revealed the egg's creator as Chris Godfrey, a 29-year-old ad executive in London. Together with two friends, Alissa Khan-Whelan and C.J. Brown, he created the egg (known as "Eugene") as a challenge to beat the Instagram "like" record held by Kylie Jenner. The group then noticed that Eugene's biggest fans were Instagram's youngest users. "In the schools and stuff, it started to spread. It sort of spread through playgrounds," Godfrey told the NYT.
A widely followed Instagram account can be worth a lot of cash, reportedly up to $10 million in the egg's case. Given the large number of children exposed to social media, it's refreshing that the group elected to promote a positive message. "We'd like to thank #TalkingEgg for shining a limelight on #mentalhealth tonight," tweeted Mental Health America. "you did for the 1 in 5 Americans living with a mental health condition."
We'd like to thank #TalkingEgg for shining a limelight on #mentalhealth tonight with an important message. Not everyone chooses to #fightintheopen for mental health, but you did for the 1 in 5 Americans living with a mental health condition. Thank you, #EggGang! pic.twitter.com/9KPlXG5re4
— Mental Health America (@MentalHealthAm) February 4, 2019
