Weirdness is a superpower and hyperfemininity is in: Virtue's Gen Z study reveals youth trends

With the loss of traditional milestones of success and suboptimal living environments for most, Gen Z in Asia lead lives with a deep sense of paralysis and disillusion. When the world is beyond your control, the best way to resist is to survive and thrive on your terms or to embrace the chaos.

Waking up to new post-pandemic instabilities, a new world order is being written by Asia’s youth. To better understand this new world and the cultural codes that are driving Asia's Gen Z, Virtue, the global creative agency from Vice Media, conducted a large-scale research project tapping into Vice Media’s 40,000 strong global community of young people in Indonesia, Singapore, Korea, India and Japan, as well as insights from its network of journalists and content creators.

Speaking about the research and its implications for Asia’s advertisers, Huiwen Tow, head of strategy, APAC at Virtue said: “It is exciting times for Asia’s youth, with a new sense of hope and optimism driven by eccentricity and irreverence that is driving a positive agenda for change, while having some fun along the way. Brands must rethink their strategies, elevating weirdness as the superpower of this new generation, inspiring change by embracing mischief and leaning into the soft power of pleasure, humour and entertainment to challenge the status quo.”

Campaign Asia-Pacific had an early look at the research, pulling out some key findings.

Being weird is now a virtue

 

 

In a world defined by chaos, young people are radically embracing the wonderfully weird and absurd instead of letting chaos disempower, overwhelm or destroy them. The appeal of the outrageous and the unconventional is stronger than ever. More than eight in 10 APAC youth say it’s ‘normal to be weird’, while conversely, six in 10 young people say it’s ‘weird to be normal’. 

Harnessing the power of the weird and absurd through art, technology, fashion, and culture—amplified by social media—Asia's Gen Z are navigating a new world order where courage to embrace uniqueness is celebrated, and breaking conventional norms is seen as essential for personal freedom. This generation embrace oddities, quirks and eccentricities as the ultimate mark of authenticity. 

Stirring up the mainstream are young provocateurs bringing with them the most bizarre ideas. Theatrical costumes which include fur coats and rainbow dyed hair are paraded at traditional coming-of-age ceremonies in Japan’s Kita Kyushu. In China, art featuring a grotesque superhero riding a chariot made from a human pelvis is making waves in mainstream culture.

There's the #weirdgirlaesthetic—a wild and maximalist style that knows no rules with over 8.2M views on tiktok. In South Korea, Gen Z are giving Jesus the pop idol treatment on his birthday, creating new Christmas traditions in the quirkiest of ways, setting up photo booths, bus ads and even printing merch.

Fetishes are now entering the mainstream. The Zentai community in Japan—which refers to wearing a skin-tight bodysuit that covers the entire body, including the head—is being embraced by people of all walks of life as a means to relieve stress and as a form of self-actualisation. And fringe conversations on foot fetishes in India are indicative of cultures willing to acknowledge the normalcy of such kinks. 

The bizarre trend has taken over the internet as well. #dreamcore (4B TikTok views) creates surreal, unsettling moods using elements from our childhood while #sludge content (23M TikTok views) is a multiframe video of videos, putting together unrelated footage as a response to society’s thirst for never ending stimuli. 

Brands should consider how they can play into the chaos to create whole new worlds of weirdness. The bizarre and surreal feeds this generations’ quest for the unique and novel. 

Softness is power

 

 

Feminism was rewritten in 2023, with youth in Asia ditching stereotypes of what and how a modern feminist should be. This year, it's all about leaning into your femininity and using softness to your advantage. 

Starting from what they wear to what they had for dinner, women are letting go of traditional notions of power and control to practice unrestrained authenticity. In fashion, #balletcore and #coquette dominated TikTok where hyperfeminine styles became women’s unapologetic way to have fun and be themselves; a shift away from the androgynous styles of the 'girlboss'. To prioritise self-care over the hustle of the 996 culture, they embraced #snailgirl and #girldinner, unashamed about the realities of the female experience. 

This is driving an evolution of feminism, where women do not need to adopt masculine forms of power, and where embracing girlhood is strength.

Brands can tap into this cultural code by championing hyperfemininity as the new definition of the modern progressive woman in Asia. Play up the merits of the hyperfeminine woman and help them recognise that softness can be their superpower. 

Irreverant resistance

 

 

Waking up to new post-pandemic instabilities, Gen Z in Asia are leaving behind rose-tinted glasses to recognise that grand speeches and lofty goals will not save the world. Shying away from grand, hopeful acts of altruism that feel neither true nor sustainable to them, they are protesting the ways of the world through a unique brand of irreverent resistance, grounded in unabashed practicality.

Disillusioned by reality but staying true to purpose, Gen Z is not about to give up. They are ditching pretentious idealism for unabashed realism. Six in 10 APAC youth say feeling a sense of purpose in their life is essential to their health, but they are weaponising their creativity and responding to the larger issues around them with playful defiance—a response that is more liberating and authentic, than needlessly worthy and performative.

Brands can tap into this cultural code by recognising that grand speeches and lofty ideals are lost on this generation. They are focused on the real incremental personal impact that they can have to create a better world for themselves and the communities around them.

 

Empathetic tech

 

 

Technology in Asia has leapfrogged reality to imagine better futures and has supercharged an elevated quality of life in just a single generation.

New technologies which enhance humanity and foster empathy are helping us to connect better with ourselves and with others via bots, avatars and personalised apps. Thirty-one percent of youth in Asia agree AI will be providing therapy within 10 years, while 62% agree that AI will be moderating social media within 10 years.

With technology seamlessly woven into their existence, a new generation of youth are exploring a harmonious co-existence of technology and man. The ultimate end-goal isn't to explore an alternate universe, but to find ways to feel more alive in our current reality, and to feel and experience the world around them in richer and more immersive ways than ever before.

In a conventionally repressed emotional climate, young people in Asia are leaning on technology to reach deeper parts of themselves to unpack complex emotions and undiscussed topics to discover a richer sense of self. Digital natives have locked themselves out of connection and are turning towards experimental technology and experiences.

Brands should consider how they can elevate tech that restores humanity and explore tech that enables a deeper and richer experience of the world.
 

Power has shifted to fandoms

 

 

In an ever more disconnected world, fandoms are replacing traditional social structures, traversing geographies and demographics. They are a force to be reckoned with—their creativity, resourcefulness, passion and dedication. What has changed is the power shift from celebrity to fan—today’s fans make or break celebrities, and their cultural clout is far-reaching beyond the celebrity universe.

Gen Z sees fandom as a big part of their identity and selfhood; but this transcends the celebrity or the entity they like. The power of fandoms can be attributed to the deep connections that these communities have with each other, and the role it plays in creating a sense of self and belonging.

Ninety-three percent of APAC youth say fandoms are a form of escapism and a way to have fun and turn down the noise of the world around them and get away from bad news. Meanwhile, 66% say it helps them to connect and find friends while giving them a sense of belonging.

Fans can make or break celebrities. They drive the success of a star through listening parties, scheduled hashtag parties and dedicated investments in their albums, merch and more. But they have also expanded beyond the sphere of the celebrity to exist on their own, championing their own causes, pushing for their own independent initiatives. Schools have been donated to by fandoms, and the survival of the tuktuk trade in Thailand during the pandemic was hugely due to birthday billboards crowdfunded by fans.

This shift in power can also break celebrities. Fans today are political and active, ready to take a stand whenever needed, even if that means standing up against bad behaviour from their favourite celebrities.

Brands should celebrate fan creativity and manufacture demand by making their products and experiences scarce. If fan culture is all about being on the inside, brands should think about how they can get their audience to earn their way into having access to the brand.