--- title: "After Zuckerberg’s Cringey Hypebeast Makeover, the Average Person Still Finds Him Repulsive" description: "Thanks to his cringey makeover, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg clearly thinks he's hot stuff — but the average American is unconvinced." date: "2025-02-21" modified: "2025-02-21" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/zuckerberg-makeover-annoying-poll" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "facebook" - "mark zuckerberg" - "Meta" - "pew" - "pew research center" --- # After Zuckerberg’s Cringey Hypebeast Makeover, the Average Person Still Finds Him Repulsive ![Thanks to his cringey makeover, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg clearly thinks he's hot stuff — but the average American is unconvinced.]() *\Image: Andrej Sokolow / picture alliance via Getty / Futurism\* Thanks to his [cringey makeover](), Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg clearly thinks he's had his "glow up" moment — but to the average average American, he's still chopped liver. As the [Pew Research Center reports](), a new poll looking at Zuckerberg — alongside fellow beloathed billionaire Elon Musk — has shown that 67 percent, or roughly two-thirds of Americans surveyed, said they feel "unfavorable" towards the 40-year-old Facebook founder. What's more, a whopping 26 percent said they feel *very* unfavorable towards him as well, suggesting that more than a quarter of Americans really, really do not like that man. Between January 27 and February 3 of this year, Pew contacted more than 5,000 people by telephone or online to ask them about their familiarity and favorability rankings for various political and business figures. The polling comes after Zuckerberg's semi-recent image turn from the [robotic nerd]() who loved [Sweet Baby Ray's]() hot sauce to the most [pre-divorced man]() Silicon Valley has ever seen, as his [seeming midlife crisis]() led him to [design his own t-shirts](), wear [glitzy gold chains](), and get an [unbecoming broccoli haircut](). The wild thing, according to these new figures: none of those attempts at a new image appear to have done anything to warm his public perception. Just look at [polling from The Tech Oversight Project last year](), which found that about 65 percent of roughly 500 people polled viewed Zuckerberg unfavorably — meaning he's actually now slightly *more* despised than before his Hypebeast makeover. One could perhaps forgive the 40-year-old Facebook founder were his new vibe merely aesthetic, but it seems to be a byproduct of a reactionary shift that isn't just limited to stupid comments about "[masculine energy]()" on broey podcasts. In the months since debuting his new look, Zuckerberg has rebranded Meta as [essentially anti-woke]() — a move, perhaps, that results from his [violent rivalry with Musk]() — and rolled back all its diversity guidelines in favor of "free speech" rules that allow for [way more hate speech]() on its platforms. While the average American is, per this Pew poll, clearly unimpressed with Zuck's new schtick, those within the tech industry were apparently wooed by his "[chadification]()." "There’s a cool factor that didn’t exist before," tech investor Brianne Kimmel [told the *Washington Post*]() last year of Zuck's newfound swag, "and now male tech CEOs have a playbook to achieve similar results." The emperor's new clothes even resonated with one of his former executives, who told *WaPo* without a hint of irony that Zuckerberg is "living his best life." Back in the real world, though, everyday people aren't buying it al all — so much so that Zuckerberg is still [more unpopular than Musk](), whose favorability per the Pew poll sits at 54 percent, while he lives and breathes the [right-wing dream]() in Trump's White House. **More on Zuck:** [*There May Be Downsides Now That Mark Zuckerberg Can Read Your Thoughts With a Scanning Device*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()