For those watching closely, his 80-minute video announcing Facebook\u2019s rebrand delivered some self-referential jokes.<\/b>
\nAmid a massive company pivot, a monthlong press cycle and increasing calls for regulation, Mark Zuckerberg wants everyone to know he has a sense of humor. In an 80-minute keynote presentation announcing his company\u2019s name change \u2014 from Facebook to Meta \u2014 and a shift away from traditional social networking, the 37-year-old chief executive made sure to insert a longstanding gag that his employees and followers would appreciate: a bottle of barbecue sauce. Eagle-eyed watchers knew that this wasn\u2019t just any condiment standing on the bookshelf behind Mr. Zuckerberg. It was Sweet Baby Ray\u2019s, the tangy grocery store staple that\u2019s been elevated to meme status ever since the Facebook founder mentioned it in a now infamous 2016 video at least 11 times while \u201csmoking meats\u201d in his backyard. He was poking fun at himself. While Mr. Zuckerberg has struggled to make himself seem empathetic and relatable, he and his army of press handlers seem to have figured out that a little self-deprecation goes a long way in making a man worth $116 billion look a bit more normal. They\u2019ve made a yearslong effort to rehabilitate his image \u2014 one that\u2019s been defined by onstage meltdowns, weird declarations and constant company crises. Just like his company, Mr. Zuckerberg seems keen to leave the past behind. And so, for a few hours on Thursday, at least, people were talking about Mr. Zuckerberg \u2014 not as an all-powerful C.E.O. whose company has provided a platform to undermine elections, spread misinformation and incite violence, but as a pretty cool guy. A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment for this article. Sweet Baby Ray\u2019s has become enmeshed in company lore ever since Mr. Zuckerberg made his love for the sauce known on a 2016 livestream video that has been memed into oblivion. In weekly companywide Q. and A. sessions with employees, references to the barbecue sauce sometimes come up along with other inside jokes, including the chief executive\u2019s love for McDonald\u2019s spicy chicken nuggets and his obsession with owning goats. In April, amid a larger effort to shift his posting away from addressing accusations about the company\u2019s role in spreading misinformation and hate speech, Mr. Zuckerberg posted a photo of a grocery store sale of his favorite barbecue sauce, calling it \u201cmy kind of deal.\u201d The Sweet Baby Ray\u2019s cameo in Thursday\u2019s presentation was worth more than $2 million in media mentions within 24 hours, according to Apex Marketing Group, a brand consulting firm based outside of Detroit. (A Sweet Baby Ray\u2019s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.) That wasn\u2019t the only Easter egg that Face\u2014 er, Meta stuck in the presentation. At one point in the stream, Mr. Zuckerberg appeared at a desk with a bottle of sunscreen sitting atop it and a surfboard leaning against the wall behind him. The objects were a callback to a photo that circulated last year of Mr. Zuckerberg on the high seas in Hawaii, his face covered in a heavy helping of zinc sunscreen while riding a motorized hydrofoil. That photograph, Mr. Zuckerberg later said in an Instagram Live video, was an attempt to hide from paparazzi. It had the opposite effect. Following a demonstration of Meta\u2019s planned expansion into video games, Mr. Zuckerberg made a verbal nod to his lathered up face: A a gaming opponent, in the video, asks if he wants to play again. \u201cMaybe later,\u201d Mr. Zuckerberg replies. \u201cI\u2019m going to need a lot more sunscreen, though.\u201d As outlets continue to publish stories based on thousands of leaked documents from a company whistle-blower, a company name change and a few jokes are unlikely to erase Meta\u2019s past. But they may help undermine the public perception that Mr. Zuckerberg can\u2019t take a little ribbing. In one part of yesterday\u2019s presentation, his avatar tried to sit down to a virtual card game with a group of friends. One of them had chosen their digital presence to be a robot. \u201cI thought I was supposed to be the robot,\u201d Mr. Zuckerberg quipped.<\/p>\n