EggFusion

EggFusion is a company that places advertisements, freshness expiration dates or other data on eggs sold in retail stores. The process involves the use of a thin laser beam to etch fine lines on the shells of eggs before they are placed in cartons. The resulting image may be a corporate logo, a URL, a brief text message or simple line art.

The EggFusion process creates dark lines on white eggs and white lines on brown eggs. The etchings are 50 to 90 nanometers deep, approximately 1/20 of the thickness of a typical egg shell. The interior of the egg is not affected or altered in any way. The process is said not to increase the susceptibility of marked eggs to breakage or reduce their shelf life.

In September 2006, CBS launched a campaign promoting items from their fall programming line-up on 35 million eggs. Slogans etched on eggs included "Hard-boiled drama" and "Funny side up." Quoted in the International Herald Tribune, George Schweitzer, president of the CBS marketing group, commented: "We've gone through every possible sad takeoff on shelling and scrambling and frying... It's a great way to reach people in an unexpected form." CBS referred to the campaign as "egg-vertising."

According to EggFusion, the ultimate goal is to have an etching on every egg sold in every grocery store in America.