Originally published 2021-04-29.
The short version: Mark Zuckerberg says the thick white layer of sunscreen on his face in the famous Hawaii surfing photo was meant to be a disguise. He spotted a photographer following him, hoped a heavy coat of sunscreen would stop anyone recognising him, and ended up producing one of the most memed tech-CEO pictures of 2020.
Below is what actually happened, what he said about it at two different points, why the image spread so fast, and what dermatologists and regulators say about how much sunscreen people really need.
The photo: an eFoil ride off Hawaii in July 2020
The picture was taken in Hawaii in July 2020, where Zuckerberg was riding an eFoil, a battery-powered surfboard with an underwater wing (a hydrofoil) that lifts the board above the water once it gets moving. Surf publication The Inertia places the ride off Kauai, the island where Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan own a large estate.
In the shots, he stands on the board in a wetsuit while his face is coated in a pale, almost chalky layer. The images began circulating on social media around 19 July 2020, and within hours the comparisons started: a ghost, a mime, a Kabuki actor, a Joker cosplay, the "uncanny valley" of a video-game character.
Part of the joke was the contrast. Here was one of the richest people on the planet, running a company built on carefully managed images, caught looking like someone who had lost a fight with a tube of zinc cream.
What Zuckerberg first said in 2020
His first public comments came in a Facebook Q&A later that summer, not long after the photos went viral. He did not offer the disguise story then. Instead he leaned into the self-deprecation, saying: "I'm not a person who's under the illusion that I look particularly cool at any point with what I'm doing."
He described the ride itself as a beautiful morning on the water, then admitted that seeing the photo afterwards made him realise he had used rather more sunscreen than he thought. He finished by defending the habit of wearing it at all, which is a fair point for someone spending hours in strong tropical sun.
The 2021 explanation: a failed disguise
The fuller story arrived in late April 2021, during an Instagram Live conversation with Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram. Asked about the picture, Zuckerberg explained that he had noticed a paparazzo tracking him and his group on the water. His plan, he said, was to smother his face in sunscreen so the photographer would not recognise him.
It had the opposite effect. The white mask made him more noticeable, not less, and the resulting photo travelled further than an ordinary holiday snap ever would have. "I really should have thought that one through more," he said, according to reports of the broadcast by CNET and others. He added that he found the whole thing funny and was glad people could laugh about it, while conceding that "no one needs to be wearing that much sunscreen."
Whether the disguise idea was the whole reason or a neat story told with hindsight, only he knows. The two accounts are not really in conflict, though: the first explains why he wore sunscreen at all, the second explains why he wore so much.
Why the image became a meme
Several things made this photo perfect internet material:
- A famous face made unrecognisable. People enjoy seeing the powerful in unguarded moments, and a face hidden under white paste is instantly readable even as a thumbnail.
- Easy edits. The pale face slotted neatly into film stills, album covers and cartoon characters, which made it simple to remix.
- Timing. In July 2020 much of the world was in pandemic restrictions, scrolling more than usual, and hungry for something light.
- An ongoing joke about Zuckerberg. Long-running gags that he is a robot or a lizard person meant the photo fitted a story people were already telling.
Zuckerberg has since chosen to play along rather than fight it, which is often the smartest move for a public figure when a picture escapes and cannot be pulled back.
Why sunscreen can look that white
The ghostly look has a simple chemical explanation. Mineral sunscreens use zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, fine particles that sit on the skin and absorb and scatter ultraviolet light. Products with larger particles tend to leave a visible opaque white cast, which is exactly why many people dislike them on the face. Water sports enthusiasts often still choose thick zinc formulas, because they stay put in water and wind.
The amount matters too. The standard used in laboratory SPF testing is 2 milligrams of product per square centimetre of skin. For an average adult that works out to around 35 ml, roughly six teaspoons, for the whole exposed body, and about a quarter to a third of a teaspoon for the face alone. Research suggests most people apply only a quarter to a half of that, so their real-world protection is lower than the number on the bottle.
So Zuckerberg was not wrong to protect his skin. Applied evenly, a reasonable amount of sunscreen rubs in and becomes far less visible; a thick, unblended layer is what turns a face white.
Practical takeaways for a day on the water
- Use enough, but blend it. A generous layer rubbed in properly protects as well as a visible white mask, without the comic effect.
- Reapply. Sunscreen generally needs reapplying about every two hours and after swimming or heavy sweating. A higher SPF does not make it last longer.
- Read the water-resistance label. In the US, regulators do not allow "waterproof" or "sweatproof" claims; water-resistant products must say how long they last while swimming or sweating.
- Cover up as well. Hats, rash guards and sunglasses cut exposure without any product at all.
- Ask a professional about skin concerns. If you have sensitive skin, a skin condition or a mole that is changing, talk to a doctor or dermatologist about which products suit you.
A small story about fame and privacy
Underneath the jokes sits a more ordinary human moment: someone trying to enjoy a morning on the water without being photographed, and getting it wrong. Paparazzi photos of the very wealthy often end up shaping public impressions far more than any official portrait, and this one has outlived many of Facebook's carefully planned announcements from the same year.
For Zuckerberg, the lesson he drew was mild and self-mocking. For everyone else, it is a reminder that a picture can travel the world in a day, and that the person in it rarely gets to tell their side until much later.
Sources: The Inertia: Mark Zuckerberg's sunscreen explained; Complex: Zuckerberg says he caked his face in sunscreen to throw off paparazzi (April 2021); Wikipedia: Sunscreen (mineral filters, application amounts, labelling).
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