There's a new ugly little toy winning the internet

• Emy Adventure is Gen Z and Gen Alpha's new Instagram obsession.
• Emy, the plush toy, has been taken on wild adventures and gained over a million followers since November.
• The creator behind Emy said the idea is to inspire people to get outside.

The internet can't get enough of this weird plush toy.

An Instagram account called "emyadventure1" first appeared in November with a simple premise: every time it gained a follower, Emy, a custom-made green-and-yellow plush toy, would move 1 millimeter closer to being thrown from the world's tallest building in Dubai.

The account quickly attracted thousands of followers, likes, and comments, and was thrown from 830,000mm, the equivalent height to the Burj Khalifa, in February. The stakes were raised again: in March, Emy was thrown from a high-altitude balloon, 116,419 feet above Kingston, New York.

Emy's co-creator, Sachin Raoul — a 33-year-old tech founder and entrepreneur who was included in Forbes' 30 under 30 in 2022 — is insistent that this is not another example of online "brain rot."

Raoul wants to encourage people to step away from their screens — with the caveat that you need a phone and an Instagram account to engage with Emy — and into the real world, inspired by Emy's adventures in the great outdoors.

The page also invites followers to take part in in-person challenges — finding a mini version of the Emy toy out in the wild, for example, in the style of Pokémon Go.

A weird experiment that broke through

Raoul, who previously set up a digital relationship and sex therapy app called Blueheart, started to rethink the purpose of their work after having a child in 2024.

"I realized I was building experiences designed to keep people on their phones," said Raoul. "That made me reflect on the work I was doing every day, and that's really what pushed me to do something completely different and create something that was inspiring for young people."

"Chasing adventure and love are the two most important values to me," they added. "There isn't much adventure around building apps."

Raoul said at this point, Emy doesn't generate any revenue, but the long-term plan is to bring in sponsorships and collaborations.

Raoul and a friend had decided to experiment with weird and creative projects, trialing low-cost ideas to see what would gain traction.

"The concept of dropping a plushie from a height tied to our follower count was the one that broke through," Raoul said.

The custom plush toy we now know as Emy was originally an avatar. Raoul had previously created an AI pet companion app for young people and therefore owned the intellectual property rights to the Emy avatar.

It was then redesigned into a custom plush toy so it could be used for social media content. They have since shut down the app to focus on Emy Adventure.

Absurd and curious

The younger generations are especially enthusiastic about Emy, Raoul said.

Matt Navarra, a social media consultant, said it's likely because of the simplicity and absurdity of the account.

"If millennial social media was about connection, Gen Z, Gen Alpha social media is about curiosity and immediacy," Navarra said.

In a busy, chaotic social media feed, the simple format of posts has also struck a chord with younger audiences, he said.

Plus, there's the participatory aspect of it that appeals.

"Gen Z, Gen Alpha don't just consume content nowadays. They expect to be able to interact with it, or influence it, and remix it," he said.

At the end of each reel, a message pops up so quickly that you might miss it, directing followers to search for a mini version of Emy that's hidden in a real location.

Challenges are set up so that followers who find the little toys are added to the Instagram story. They don't win any cash prizes for finding the toy, but they do get to keep it — and that's a big deal if you're in the Emy fan club.

The creators also did an Emy meme competition. The winner, Joe Lander, a 23-year-old from the UK, said he received $600 for his meme that joked about how quickly the account was gaining followers.

"I grew up making memes as a teenager, so it was something that really resonated with me," Lander told Business Insider.

Lander initially followed the account because it seemed catchy and engaging.

Raoul said this level of engagement is exactly what they had hoped for with the project.

While Emy's purpose is to inspire people to go out into the real world, Raoul believes people are resistant to being told to put their phones down.

"What does work is meeting people where they are," they said.

"You use the medium they're already on," i.e., phones, "to show them what they're missing," Raoul added.

"You give them a glimpse of a helicopter drop over Alaska, or a plushie on the edge of the world's tallest building, and you let the content do the talking," they said.