- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has dramatically improved his wardrobe since the pandemic.
- The billionaire has ditched his collection of grey t-shirts and replaced them with a brown lambskin jacket and gold chains.
- But Zuckerberg’s transformation may be part of a plan to appear more relatable.
Mark Zuckerberg certainly surprised the world with his transformation from hoodie-loving nerd to chain-wearing tech guru.
However, the extreme change may have nothing to do with Zuckerberg’s ever-evolving fashion sense, but rather a concerted plan to bring the billionaire closer to people his own age.
In January 2020, the Meta CEO exchanged a series of emails with his colleague and then-board member Peter Thiel about how they could better sell Facebook to millennials.
But more interesting is the personal brand Zuckerberg hopes to cultivate as part of Meta’s plan to woo millennials, as outlined in one email exchange.
“While our company has a special role in the lives of this generation, it may be especially important for how I present myself because I am the most famous person of my generation,” Zuckerberg wrote in an email on January 4, 2020.
Zuckerberg’s emails, first reported by the newsletter Internal Tech Emails, are among the company documents and correspondence the state of Tennessee has submitted as evidence in its lawsuit against Meta.
In October, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a lawsuit against the social media giant. The lawsuit, filed along with 41 other states, alleges the company’s product, Instagram, causes “mental health harm to its young users.”
Interestingly, Zuckerberg is not the only one who considers himself a youth icon.
In an email dated December 31, 2019, Thiel said the company’s popularity among young people meant Zuckerberg “has been appointed as the spokesperson for the Millennial generation.”
Zuckerberg, Thiel said, is seen as “the only person who speaks to the hopes and fears and unique experiences of this generation, at least in the United States.”
“I think this sweeping change is something that we should consider in terms of how our company communicates and demonstrates more broadly, but it’s something that I’ll certainly think about more in terms of how I communicate,” Zuckerberg wrote in his response a few days later on January 4.
To be sure, Meta may no longer be the most popular social media platform for millennials. The company has faced increasing competition from the likes of TikTok, which has captured users’ attention with its focus on short-form videos.
Zuckerberg, on the other hand, may be able to stick with his plan. The billionaire has ditched his standard uniform of a gray T-shirt, a brown lambskin jacket and a gold chain.
The results speak for themselves. This year alone, Zuckerberg has gone viral every few weeks with his eye-catching fashion choices.
Last week, Zuckerberg attracted attention when he posted an Instagram video of himself floating in water while wearing a tuxedo on Independence Day.
“Happy birthday, America!” Zuckerberg wrote in his post.
The image change also provides a major PR boost for Zuckerberg, who isn’t always seen as the coolest guy in tech.
However, Zuckerberg’s reputation was tarnished during the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, when Facebook was accused of allowing the data of millions of users to be improperly accessed by the political analysis firm.
The Meta leader’s image makeover hasn’t gone unnoticed by other billionaires. Spotify founder Daniel Ek told Forbes in an interview last year that he found Zuckerberg’s new public persona “much more authentic.”
“He’s learned a lot over the last few years and he’s got a new spirit,” Ek, who has known Zuckerberg for years, told the outlet. “He realizes that he needs to act responsibly because he has such a big platform.”
Zuckerberg’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.
