Mark Zuckerberg snuck sunscreen, Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, and other props poking fun at his past into Facebook's 'Meta' rebrand
Mark Lennihan/AP
- Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook rebrand video was full of Easter eggs.
- The video, revealing Facebook's "Meta" rebrand, had bottles of sunscreen and Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce.
- Zuckerberg has professed his love for the sauce, and a photo of him slathered in sunscreen went viral in 2020.
Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook rebrand announcement was littered with props poking fun at his past.
They included bottles of both sunscreen and Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce - as well as a reference to himself as a robot.
Zuckerberg unveiled the huge rebrand in an 80-minute video on Thursday, including changing Facebook's corporate name to Meta. Zuckerberg also detailed the company's plans to develop a "metaverse," a virtual space where people interact digitally using avatars and virtual reality.
Experts previously told Insider that the rebrand wouldn't be enough to save the company from a huge backlash prompted by a recent leak of whistleblower documents. One expert told Insider it was an attempt to "divert the conversation from their current problems onto the metaverse, which is exciting and futuristic."
The rebrand video contained some subtle, and some not-so-subtle, references to memes about Zuckerberg.
In the video, a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce propping up books on his shelves. In a viral 2016 Facebook Live video of him smoking meats, Zuckerberg repeatedly referred to his love for the sauce. Earlier this year, Zuckerberg said that it was his favorite meme of himself.
Zuckerberg is also a keen surfer - and his metaverse avatar is no different.
The launch video includes a clip of Zuckerberg scrolling through costume options for entering a hydrofoil surfing race as his avatar - and choices include one called "Freedom Foil," which features his avatar carrying a huge American flag over his shoulder. This is a reference to Facebook and Instagram videos he posted on July 4 of him surfing while holding a flag and listening to John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads."
Another outfit option for hydrofoiling races in the metaverse is "SPF 5000," which features the tech mogul with his face covered in sunscreen, referencing photos of him surfing while smeared in sunscreen which went viral last June.
Zuckerberg himself has poked fun at the photos in the past, including plastering artwork of him smothered in sunscreen on a surfboard.
And the hydrofoiling outfit isn't the only time he refers to the sunscreen incident in the launch video. In another clip, Zuckerberg is sat at his desk with a bottle of what appears to be sunscreen next to him.
Over the years, people have pointed out Zuckerberg's robotic public-speaking skills, leading to him being given the moniker "Zuckerborg" by some critics. Zuckerberg referenced this himself in the launch video when one of his friends unveiled their avatar as a robot.
"I thought I was supposed to be the robot," Zuckerberg said.
The video also features a shot of a bike, which could be a reference to his first Facebook Live Q&A in 2016, where he revealed that he broke his arm after falling off his bike.
Under the rebrand, Facebook's main social-media app will still be called Facebook, but the parent company that owns it will be called Meta. Zuckerberg said Thursday that the company is now going to be "Metaverse first, not Facebook first."
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