French supermarket chain U Shops (Systeme U) has taken a tongue-in-cheek swing at finding out the answer in a new campaign titled “The Hen” (or “La Poule” in French.)

The TV and digital spot, by TBWA/Paris, takes the viewer back in time from the present day as it follows a hen and its ancestors through a world war, the 18th century, the Roman era, the Stone Age, all the way to the time of the dinosaurs in a bid to discover the answer.

The concept of the ad, as the final frame makes clear, is to promote the store chain’s use of only free-range eggs and boost its animal welfare credentials.

Frustratingly, though, the spot doesn’t reveal which really came first—leaving mankind to wonder at the marvels of evolution for a little longer.

This isn’t TBWA\Paris’ first egg-centric work of note. To launch McDonald’s all-day breakfast offering in France, the agency created a satisfying series of GIFs about bouncing eggs and other fanciful ingredients in an Egg McMuffin.

CREDITS:
U Brand: Sandrine Burgat, Laurène de Demandolx, Céline Guérin-Vaney 
TBWA\Paris: Anne Vincent, Matthéo Pressmar, Adrien Marsaud, Meryl Conrad 
Executive Creative Directors: Benjamin Marchal & Faustin Claverie 
Art Director: Sébastien Guinet
Copywriter: Josselin Pacreau
Production: /Else
Filmmaker: Hungry Beards
Dop: Jean Paul Agostini
CEO & Producer \Else: Maxime Boiron
Production Director: Tristan Voisin
Post-Production: Digital District & \Else
Post-Producers: Dorothée Semezis & Mélanie Bernard
3D: Digital District
Sounds: \Else 
Head of Music and Sounds: Olivier Lefebvre 
Sound Producers: Fanny Mithois & Yann Levasseur
Sound Art Director: Ferdinand Huet
Sound Engineer& Sound Designer: Alexandre Robieux 
Music composition: Ludovic Bource 
Media Agency: MyMedia