What Is It About Unicorns That Makes Us So Enamored With Them?

Most people can’t pinpoint the exact moment when they realized how much they adore unicorns. How are you going to do it? It’s not like you can recall the first time you fell in love with the fragrance of newly cut grass, the lovely nicotine-y brain fuzz of a cigarette, or the sound of a cash machine whirling your cash.

What Is It About Unicorns That Makes Us So Enamored With Them?

My Little Pony has always been a favorite of mine. More recently, I’ve found myself tempted to pricey unicorn iPhone cases, following their glittery edges in an attempt to persuade myself that it’s OK to spend upwards of £20 on a phone case covered with what are effectively small white mythical horses. Unicorns have been adored by humans since their first appearances in ancient Greek writings, and they show no signs of fading away. We looked into the age-old topic of why humans have always adored unicorns and continue to do so. Here’s what we discovered. I’m sorry to break it to you, Instagram-obsessed millennials, but you’re not the first to be obsessed with unicorns. Unicorns have been popular for a long time.

I’m not talking about the days before the internet. I’m talking about the good old days, when the vast majority of people were poor and our royal families were chronically inbred. But wait, there’s more. Anyway, “written accounts of unicorns date back two and a half millennia,” according to the website Unicorn Dream, which seems like a reliable history source if ever there was one. Unicorns were adored in ancient Babylon, according to Pliny the Elder’s writings, and even Aristotle wrote about them. Christoph Ono is the founder of Cornify, which he started in 2009 as “kind of a ridiculous joke”. Cornify is a Chrome plug-in that lets you add unicorns to online sites and photographs. “I was working as a developer in New York when my employer scolded me for placing unicorn graphics in slide shows,” Ono recalls. “So I made Cornify one morning without giving it any thought, and it went viral.” Unicorns are a nerdy inside joke in Silicon Valley, and successful tech companies are frequently referred to as unicorns. However, this isn’t the only reason behind Cornify’s success. I ask Ono whether he can pinpoint why the concept has been so effective. “I believe it is attributable in part to pop culture,” he says. “As a result, you frequently see memes depicting notable people riding unicorns, such as Vladimir Putin. Unicorns also appear to be in abundance. I find it nearly impossible to say anything negative about unicorns. Nobody ever has anything negative to say about unicorns.

I’m not sure why Cornify is so popular, but it’s been a great way for me to channel my inner seven-year-old.” This is Ono’s email signature, by the way. It’s very cool, I think you’ll agree. So now you can buy something called “unicorn tears,” which is just quality gin in a bottle with edible silver glitter and a unicorn label. Some may see this as a sleazy marketing attempt to entice cash-strapped unicorn fans. I’m not saying this because I’m still hoping that their public relations department will send me a bottle. Unicorn tears are my favorite. I spoke with Ben Redhead, the CEO of Firebox, the unicorn gin’s manufacturer. They claim that sales have been “phenomenal,” and that they’re currently working on assisting other fabled creatures get their due. Narwhals (the sea’s unicorns) have also been having a renaissance. The word on the street is that pufferfish will be big again in 2016.” We live in a brave new world.