Disrupting Wellness

Image Credits: @Afffirmations, Google Maps

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As we emerge from isolation, our health has been brought into sharp
focus. The wellness industry is booming, accounting for $4.5 trillion or
5.3% of total global economic output. Our mental and physical wellbeing
was pushed to the limit in 2020. Yet through disease and disruption,
opportunities for growth have emerged.

The current notion of ‘wellness’ is often outdated and at times

problematic — yet its importance is set to continue growing — as we take
a more holistic approach to how we feel. One year into the pandemic,
we asked Gen Z and industry experts what they want to see from the
wellness brands of tomorrow. Here we present our four key shifts and
actions that brands can take today.
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Homogenous
Aesthetics
A white-washed visual landscape
packaged in Millennial pastels
Wellness is surrounded by affirmation quotes and an
aspirational lifestyle — and Gen Z are moving diametrically
away from this. What started as a rejection of curated feeds,
toxic body positivity, and gendering has developed into an
entire aesthetic. Gen Z wants both representation and
self-deprecating, low-fi visuals in their social feeds.

“The ‘pinnacle’ yoga teacher and the one that’s

repeatedly booked for campaigns is white, thin
and English. The aesthetic is dangerously one
dimensional and almost suggests that is what
wellness looks like.”

Image Credits: @ c41ypso

- Calypso
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“The wellness industry is

whitewashed and pastel
colours, it’s off-putting”
- Shelby

Image Credits: @sm.luke

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Brand Take Out:

Break the BVI

For a category so steeped in visual clichés and a singular
aesthetic — there has never been a better opportunity to
disrupt the norm and refresh your brand’s visual approach.

• Wellness should not be about a singular vision: to be

fully inclusive it can also be disorderly and different.

• Incorporate Gen Z cues into your content such as

lo-fi artwork and self-referential or humourous visuals

Image Credits: Pinterest search: ‘Wellness Branding’

— for example, original branded memes are a fun
brand communication tool for expressing more ‘serious’
information.

• Too often, wellness feels unattainable as the imagery is

too focussed on perfection not progress; show behind-the-
scenes and relatable imagery within your brand visuals and
social communication.
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Commodified Wellbeing
The industry is counter-intuitive
to Gen Z’s social values
In the age of Kourtney Kardashian’s Poosh, wellness has
reached the upper echelons of A-list America. From the
exponential rise in tech wellness startups to wellness being
named ‘as the new brand purpose’ — it increasingly feels
that wellness has been commodified, packaged and sold
back to us. However, Gen Z are questioning capitalist
structures and wealth inequality. Our social feeds are now
awash with political discourse — and Gen Z wants socially
conscious wellness.

Image Credits: @ meganhwallace

“Capitalism is the antithesis of wellness”

- Megan
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“Wellness has been commodified

and sold back to us, when it’s a very
basic human right. Buy this, buy that
— when it comes to self-care if I want
to binge a whole series of RuPaul I’ll
do that, that’s what my body needs”
- Jariel

Image Credits: @jarielann

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Brand Take Out:

Activism Not Affirmations

Good vibes can only get us so far. As a brand profiteering off
wellbeing, it’s important to recognise social inequities along gender,
class, disability and racial lines that change our experience of wellness.

• Profit cannot be the only bottom line if you’re selling wellness.

Consider ethical models of re-investment, for example into
sustainability or racial justice programmes. You could publish the
receipts for the ultimate act of transparency.

• Consider product accessibility, so those on lower incomes

can access your services, those with disabilities can receive your
communication and use your product.

Image Credits: Unknown, @rachel.cargle

• Create relationships with hyper-local grassroots communities and
build long-term partnerships, use these to help inform your marketing
strategy and planned activities.

• Support your staff and their mental wellbeing, the process of

creating well being should not be damaging. Ask yourself, how are you
championing them in your public communications? What access do
they get to your services?
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Decolonise The Narrative

Yoga and other forms of ‘wellness’ have been
disembodied from their cultural heritage
Many of the practices considered to fall under the wellness
category, from yoga to mindfulness, have been co-opted
from ancient traditions and repackaged through a white-
centering lens. Following an increase in critical racial
discourse during 2020, Gen Z are demanding that social,
cultural and historical narratives are decolonised. On the
topic of yoga, the rehashing of the Sanskrit language is seen
as the ultimate example of appropriation.

“I don’t find the idea of setting intentions and

chanting something that I can relate to — Sanskrit is

Image Credits: @ninaryner

used in a disingenuous way”

- Nina
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“Doing yoga at a gym feels

like a grotesque departure
and makes me feel like I’m a
horrible coloniser”
- Alyssa, Founder of Better Half

Image Credits: @comic.sans

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Brand Take Out:

Shift The Paradigm

Use your platform for enablement to encourage education
and the sharing of different perspectives, including voices
from beyond the Western wellness paradigm.

• As a brand, if you are going to use cultural or spiritual

vernacular in your communications, build a relationship with
a content creator who has expertise on the topic and give
your platform to them.

• Topics such as yoga and mindfulness are often

presented from a whitewashed, Western gaze so try
informative - not just ‘affirming’ in your social content,

Image Credits: Slow Factory Foundation

this could be in the form of bespoke infographics or
educational content series.

• Wellness isn’t exclusively European, but graphic

design typically is — think about how to decolonise your
branding system.
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Peak Influence
A move from performative to
relatable social figures
As our lifestyles were whittled down to ‘eat, sleep and
repeat’ — we also saw a rise in the critical discourse of
influencer culture, as the veil was lifted on unattainable
lifestyles being sold to us as ‘aspirational’. Gen Z in
particular want more relatable figures in their marketing
communications — they no longer buy into the idea of a
binary: being into reiki doesn’t mean you don’t enjoy the
occasional rave.

“Yoga is something for people who are part

Image Credits: @naviahluwalia

of a certain ‘perfect’ lifestyle, the ones that
wake up at 6 am and drink celery juice.
It’s mostly white women too”

- Navi
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Brand Take Out:

Relatable Community
As we move beyond the golden age of influencer content it’s
time to reframe how we think about the power dynamic between
consumers, brands, and individuals who are promoting them.

• Wellness needs to be intersectional in its approach to

inclusivity. Start with your casting strategy: ensure your casting
is gender fluid, is representative of a wide range of demographics
— for example consider using wellness Boomers — and is inclusive
of all abilities too.

• Gen Z demands structural equality too — consider not

just your external representation, but who is in decision making
positions internally.

• The rise of closed networks on social platforms like Discord

and Clubhouse, offer the chance to create intimacy and inclusion
at scale, beyond performative content — so look strategically to

Image Credits: Unknown

diversify your storytelling platforms.
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Further Reading
Wellness disruptors
we recommend:
Ysm8 — www.ysm8.co.uk
ThySelf — www.thyself.space
Chroma TV — www.chromatv.world

Image Credits: @Afffirmations, Google Maps

The High Priestxss — www.thehighpriestxss.com