MSU students, faculty and staff now know why a giant inflatable baby popped up around campus this past week.

The giant baby, which has its own Twitter account @msu_baby, was on the Drill Field and in the Junction promoting the annual Dance Marathon, taking place Feb. 16, 2018.

The Dance Marathon is an eight-hour event which raises money for the Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Matt McCoy, a junior microbiology major from Madison, said Dance Marathon volunteers have put the baby up all week to build hype for the event.

“Today [Monday] we’re having a big registration push,” McCoy said. “We have a goal of signing 170 people today.”

However, McCoy also said dancing is not the only thing that goes on at Dance Marathon.

“Of course we dance—we’re called Dance Marathon,” McCoy said. “We also play group games.”

With Monday being Child Health Day, which relates to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, Alex White, a junior finance major from Nashville, Tennessee, said the goal of the baby was to draw attention to Monday’s registration drive.

“The idea behind it was to create a buzz on campus,” White said. “To get hype around the baby, develope interest in it, so that we got a lot of followers and a lot of attention so that we could draw attention to [Monday].”

Last week, many were confused by the baby’s appearance. Sean Lenes, a senior business information systems from Gulfport, said he wondered about the baby’s purpose all week.

“I had no idea why there was just a random inflatable baby moving around campus,” Lenes said. “Because it was in different spots, I saw it all the time. My main reaction was just trying to figure out why.”

After finding out the baby was a promotion for the Dance Marathon, Lenes said he is glad to know it was not just random.

“My main thing now is going to be looking up more about it,” Lenes said. “I don’t really know anything about the Children’s Miracle Network.”

As for whether the baby will reappear at any point between now and Dance Marathon, White said that it is still up in the air.

“That’s to be determined,” White said. “Hopefully, but we will see.”

Brody Ross, a freshman veterinary systems major from Fairhope, Alabama, said he is hoping to see more of the baby because he got a kick out of the giant inflatable infant. 

“I love that baby,” Ross said. “He’s awesome.”

On Monday, students could register for the Dance Marathon for $8 by using the promo code ‘MSUBABY’ at the Drill Field registration table. The cost of registration is now $10.