Happy Nice Mall

In the middle of a huge corporate axis, a monthly press cycle and with the increasing calls for editing, Mark Zuckerberg wants everyone to know he has a sense of humor.

In an 80-minute keynote name change of his company — From Facebook to Meta — and moving away from traditional social networks, the 37-year-old CEO added a long-standing gag that his employees and followers will appreciate: a bottle of barbecue sauce.

Eagle-eyed viewers He knew it wasn’t just any spice sitting on the bookshelf behind Mr. Zuckerberg. The sharp grocery staple who has risen to meme status since the Facebook founder mentioned it at least 11 times in a now-infamous 2016 video was Sweet Baby Ray. “cigarettes” in his backyard. He was enjoying himself.

While Mr. Zuckerberg tries to make himself empathetic and sympathetic, he and his friends army of press handlers He seems to understand that a little self-deprecation goes a long way in making a $116 billion man look a little more normal. They’ve spent years trying to improve their image, defined by onstage crashes, outlandish statements, and constant corporate crises. Just like his company, Mr. Zuckerberg seems eager to put the past behind him.

And so, for at least a few hours on Thursday, people were talking about Mr. Zuckerberg – not as a very powerful CEO whose company provides a platform. undermine elections, spreading false information and incite violence, but as a pretty cool guy.

A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment for this news.

Sweet Baby Ray’s has been enmeshed by corporate legends since Mr. Zuckerberg adored the well-known sauce in a forgotten live-stream video in 2016. In weekly company-wide Q&A sessions with employees, references to barbecue sauce sometimes pop up alongside other internal jokes, including the CEO’s love of McDonald’s spicy chicken nuggets and his obsession with owning goats.

in April, in the midst of a larger effort to change his post Mr. Zuckerberg has issued a message far from addressing accusations regarding the company’s role in spreading misinformation and hate speech. photo of a grocery sale he called his favorite barbecue sauce “my style”.

Sweet Baby Ray’s cameo at Thursday’s presentation was worth more than $2 million in media within 24 hours, according to Apex Marketing Group, a brand consulting firm based out of Detroit. (A Sweet Baby Ray spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.)

This wasn’t the only Easter egg that Face had pasted into the presentation.

At one point in the creek, Mr. Zuckerberg appeared at a table with a bottle of sunscreen on it and a surfboard propped against the wall behind him.

The objects were a throwback to a photograph of Mr. Zuckerberg cruising the high seas in Hawaii last year, his face covered in zinc sunscreen while driving a motorized hydrofoil.

That photo, Mr. Zuckerberg later said in an Instagram Live videoIt was an attempt to hide from the paparazzi. It had the opposite effect.

After a demonstration of Meta’s planned expansion to video games, Mr. Zuckerberg gave a verbal nod to his bubbling face: In the video, a gaming opponent asks him if he’d like to play again. “Maybe later,” Mr. Zuckerberg replies. “I’m going to need a lot more sunscreen though.”

While outlets continue to post stories based on thousands of documents leaked from a company informant, a company name change and a few jokes are unlikely to erase Meta’s history. However, they may help dispel the public perception that Mr. Zuckerberg can’t stand a little rant.

In part of Thursday’s presentation, her avatar tried to sit down in a virtual card game with a group of friends. One of them had chosen his digital presence to become a robot.

“I thought I was supposed to be a robot,” Zuckerberg joked.