Back in the day, our social standing might have been based on how many friends you had - today, it’s almost as if we're judged by the amount of likes we get on our social media posts.
It's a common feeling: counting up the number of likes you get after you upload something, or nervously refreshing your activity feed to see if anyone else has double-tapped your photos in the last two seconds.
So it might come as a complete surprise to find out that what once held the top spot for the most liked Instagram post, racking up over 60 million likes, isn't a glitzy celebrity selfie or red carpet shot.
Instead, it was created as a publicity stunt to highlight the pressures of social media.
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Back in 2018, Kylie Jenner held the record for the most liked post on Instagram, which showed an image of her newborn baby Stormi’s hand holding her thumb, and went on to get almost 19 million likes.
However, a cunning plan was hatched to try and break the record and knock Jenner off her top spot.
Londoner Chris Godfrey, an advertising exec, and his friends Alissa Khan-Whelan and CJ Brown decided to post a picture of an egg… yes, you read that correctly.
Taking to Instagram in January 2019, Godfrey uploaded a simple image of an egg against a white background along with the caption: “Let’s set a world record together and get the most liked post on Instagram. Beating the current world record held by Kylie Jenner (18 million)! We got this.”
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Very soon, and to everyone’s surprise and amusement, the picture went viral and took Jenner's crown.
As it stands, the post has over 60 million likes.
While it seemed to be a simple stunt, it actually spoke to a much wider publicity campaign about the pressures of social media for Mental Health America.
Shortly after the original photo was uploaded, two more photos appeared on the same account, showing the famous egg cracking.
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While this initially caused some confusion online, an advert which aired during the 2019 Super Bowl on Hulu suggested the egg was cracking under the weight of the pressure from social media fame.
In the advert, the egg, complete with a small face, told viewers: “I’m the world record egg (you may have heard of me).
“Recently I’ve started to crack. The pressure of social media is getting to me.
“If you’re struggling too, talk to someone. We got this,” before highlighting the relevant contact details.
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Back in 2019, Godfrey spoke to The New York Times about the stunt and how it went on to become a viral sensation.
While the antic was pegged as a fluke by some, Godfrey, who agreed with the sentiment, said: “But it’s a fluke that caught the world’s attention.
“It’s what you do with that attention that counts.”
While the egg remained the most-liked Instagram post of all time for a while, it was knocked off the top spot by Lionel Messi in December 2022, with an image of the Argentinian team celebrating winning the FIFA World Cup.