Opinion: Eggs Prices are Skyrocketing and Mundane TikToks are Going Viral. Why?

Eggs currently have a unique cultural relevance among Gen. Z. What gives? (Photo via David Benbennick, Wikimedia Commons).

In our current world, the discussion of eggs – especially on social media – seems more prevalent than ever before. Why? 

Perhaps it’s because egg prices this year have risen greatly, which may not seem like a big deal to some who can brush off the price increase. But for me, a broke college student who makes omelets almost every day? Yikes.

I did the math on this. If a Michigander bought one dozen eggs a week last year, they’d have spent roughly $104 per year on eggs. This year, however, that same Michigander is now spending around $260 annually on eggs. 

Don’t get too worried about egg costs, though. With the help of Taylor Swift fans, dubbed “Swifties,” egg prices may be lowering at their behest.

According to the Minneapolis-area radio station KS95, at the Grammys on Feb. 5, Swift and Grammy host Trevor Noah had an interview in which Noah jokingly asked Swift if she could get her fans to lower egg prices after the Swifties came together amid a Ticketmaster crisis when Swift’s upcoming tour tickets were released.

Swift responded and said she’d tell her fans to “get on it.”

The following day, KS95 said that some areas in the U.S. saw egg prices lower by 52%. I’m not saying Taylor Swift fans have the power to alter egg prices, but … that is exactly what I would say if I was not an ethical journalist. 

Egg popularity on social media was brought to my mind thanks to a TikTok video with over 190 million views. In the video, an egg simply rolls across a table, falls and breaks on the floor. Breaking a precious, expensive egg just for views? Personally, it’s a risk I wouldn’t dare to take. 

But, egg breaking could be lucrative; the five-second video has over four hundred thousand comments. 

The popularity of such a simple video led me to the question: Why did the egg video go viral on TikTok? 

One possible answer is that fellow TikTok consumers and I can’t help but laugh at simple, so-dumb-they’re-funny videos of things falling and breaking. 

But I think the popular video could have a deeper meaning. Just four years ago, @worldrecordegg on Instagram received nearly 60 million likes for a simple photograph of a brown egg. Why are eggs so relevant?

According to first-year friends Magali Perez, from Hillsdale, and Delaney Dimnet, from Clio, there are drastically differing opinions regarding eggs even among friends in the small Albion community.

“I very much dislike eggs,” Perez said. Her younger sister once made her think about the chickens who laid the eggs, causing her to contemplate her breakfast.

 “We eat these possible chicks – their possible children,” Perez said. “I vowed from that day on I would never eat eggs again, and I have not had eggs since then.” 

Dimnet has a different opinion. 

“I actually love eggs,” she said. “I make them a lot at home,”

“And they smell weird,” Perez said, interrupting her friend. 

“But I don’t like my parents making scrambled eggs,” Dimnet continued. “I usually make them myself.” 

The real question is, why are eggs so influential online? Perhaps the egg fixation exists because Americans consume over ninety-two billion eggs a year, or 277.5 per person according to statista. Eggs are not only a breakfast food. They are in a myriad of baked goods as well as cooking recipes, making them a popular food choice overall (sorry, vegans). 

It seems that there is no clear answer as to why eggs are so prevalent online today. Social media is a complex thing. Posts go viral for no apparent reason.

One thing is certain, though. Spending $100 more on eggs in a year compared to last year is not particularly egg-celent.

About Heidi Faramelli 21 Articles
Heidi Faramelli is a junior and is double majoring in English Creative Writing and Communication Studies. She's from Angola, Indiana. She finds joy in telling people-centered stories and giving the outspoken a platform to tell their stories. Contact Heidi via email at HKF10@albion.edu.

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