Gen Z, TikTok and Celebrity
How a generation full of tension live, laugh and play on TikTok, and connect with the idea of celebrity.
Tensions
Gen Z, born between 1997-2012, are a generation of tension and contradiction. Strong but also vulnerable. Exclusively inclusive. Freed from social, gender and sexual norms, but also more sensitive to the need to decide who they are. Empowered by technology but also trapped by it. For example, according to our data (across the US and UK), 72% believe in being inclusive of everyone, yet 50% believe some people shouldn’t be given a voice. 63% feel free to express their sexual and gender identity, yet 66% feel that in today’s culture there’s too much pressure toshow what sexual or gender identity they are. And while 75% use technology to cheer themselves up, yet 51% feel that technology makes them feel depressed and alone. The question for brands is how do you speak to these contradictions, for example how do you elevate Gen Z’s strength but also support their vulnerability?
Technology & TikTok
The original digital natives. The top 5 words Gen Z use when describing their generation are “Technology”, “Social Media”, “Change”, “Phone” and “Sensitive”. Technology has become life, where the phone is center stage. And here are tensions too – the love/hate relationship with their phones, their view of AI as being both a great thing (it helps me with my schoolwork) to being a potential disaster (especially among Gen Z women/girls). To TikTok being a place of joy and escape to being a drain on time and productivity. And on TikTok, of all the need-states, the platform satisfies the need to escape the most. “”I love tiktok. It’s great to pass time with and for a laugh when needed.” And where Gen Z associate some platforms with togetherness (WhatsApp, Discord, Snapchat), others with insecurity (Instagram, Facebook), and yet others with exhaustion and guilt (X, Reddit), TikTok is squarely associated with Joy and Fun along with YouTube. And in fact, TikTok owns humor and laughter in Gen Z’s minds more than any other platform. This is the way in to TikTok for brands.
Celebrity
It’s no surprise that many of the biggest influencers on TikTok have humor at their core. In a world full of tension for Gen Z, where they use TikTok as a release and escape, laughter and joy are important. In fact humor, along with originality and content quality, contributes to Gen Z’s likelihood to follow an influencer’s account, and follow their advice. Beyond humor and joy, Gen Z are more likely than other generations to see celebrity as defined by having a following and by having talent. And they’re less likely to see appearing on a red carpet as a marker of celebrity. And like much else in their lives there’s a tension at the heart of their relationship to celebrity: They hate the idea of it, yet they are obsessed by it too. As one Gen Zer told us, “Our generation has become obsessed with celebrity. But we hate celebrity culture too.” This tension should underpin how brands use and speak about celebrity.