So, we have all heard of celebrities breaking the internet. Kim Kardashian balancing a champagne bottle on her notoriously famous behind is just a classic example. Up until recently, Kylie Jenner held the record for the most liked photo on Instagram. She unveiled the truth behind her well-kept secret pregnancy by posting a photo to Instagram of her newborn’s finger wrapped around her thumb. The heart-warming post gathered an impressive 18.7 million likes.
Though recently we saw memes appearing of a disgruntled Kylie Jenner cracking an egg to the ground saying ‘take that little egg.’ In fact, it was an old video recreated into a meme captioned ‘Kylie’s reaction when she sees the new world record holder.’ But what could this possibly mean? Yes, as you might be aware the new world record holder for the most liked photo on Instagram is of none other than an ordinary egg.
Its Instagram handle was @world_record_egg and it posted the now renowned photo of the egg captioned with the following; ‘Let’s set the world record together and get the most liked post on Instagram. Beating Kylie Jenner (18 million)! We got this #LikeTheEgg #EggSoldiers #EggGang.’ The light humour along with the simplicity of the post gathered momentum like wildfire. It took only nine days for the simple egg to top Jenner’s record, for which the Kardashian Clan had achieved through spending ten years in the limelight. It is currently at over 51 million likes.
HypeBeast claims to have met with the Egg in Sixty Les hotel to ask how Egg is handling the celebrity life and what he plans to do with his new-found fame. The Egg jokes that it is harder to be ‘free range’ these days due to recognisability. Though all jokes aside, we must consider what caused such a simple post to gather such momentum. It may be that after the turbulent 2018 drew to a close, the light-hearted post to welcome the new year was seen to be a breath of fresh air.
What the post really does is show the power that Instagram has for spreading messages and advertising. It shows that power has shifted from the elite to the masses. Communities are now just as powerful as brands and a brand is only as strong as its following. It is the shout-outs and the shares, the celebrity backing that got the egg recognised by millions so rapidly. In our fierce meme culture, companies have to ignite the cohesion of communities if they wish to reap the rewards of widespread success. Industries of all kinds, whether it is in fashion or music have to realise that power has moved towards democratization. The rat race to retain the internet populations’ attention is a fierce one. Companies spending extortionate amounts must feel the shame that all their campaigns were beaten by a simple egg. The Egg has demonstrated to the highest degree that internet sensations retain a great deal of power through the democratization of fame. But most importantly the fame is driven by us. The Instagram users, the community. The Egg proves that billion-dollar brands and companies are not safe, as it is us that has the power.
