Gen Z: Anti-Wellness

Gen Z is rebelling against the demands and pressures of

wellness culture. For brands, it’s time to embrace new
aesthetics, encourage more forgiving and fluid routines,
and offer a new perspective on what it means to be ‘well’

Brielle Saggese
07.13.22 · 8 minutes

Woo
Analysis
The pandemic’s focus on wellness and self-care originally promised to give
consumers relief from burnout culture, stress and anxiety. However, many Gen
Zers are calling out how the obsession with hyper-healthy lifestyles is driving
the toxicity it aimed to cure. 

Carl Cederström, Associate Professor at Stockholm University, calls this

phenomenon 'the wellness syndrome', where an obsession with health, happiness
and optimisation often makes people feel worse.
This could be a product of the wellness industry's focus on individualisation, where
spending time alone and setting boundaries with others is an important part of self-
betterment. The widely-circulated text template “I'm actually at my emotional
capacity” pointed to wellness demands for prioritising self-care over relationships –
maybe not the best move for the 53% of US Gen Zers who felt lonelier during the
pandemic. Wellness syndrome can also be a product of wellness culture’s demands
for strict routine and regiment. A now memeified scene from the Gen Z show
Euphoria details a character’s manic self-care routine at 4am, sampling popular
wellness trends that demand time and attention. Wellness syndrome can also point
to the researched mental health impacts of overly obsessing about achieving peak
wellness. During the pandemic, doctors have reported global spikes in eating
disorder diagnoses and severity, specifically noting young women as an at-risk
group.
It’s important to note that Gen Z isn’t looking to get rid of wellness – improving their
health and wellness continues to be their top priority. However, their shifting @gabbois
attitudes toward wellness culture are shaping a counterculture movement that
seeks to call out the wellness industry's failings. Gen Zers are calling into question the toxic side of wellness culture, from its strenuous demands
to its questionable pseudoscience

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Gen Unwell
As much as Gen Zers invest in their health and wellness, 46% say they are
stressed or anxious most or all of the time. Plenty of brands show what being
'well' looks like, but the new image of wellness will more likely offer
representation of how real health struggles feel.

Sad selfies and lowlight reels have practically become an aesthetic of their own, but
creators like TikToker @whatsonvisface focus on the feelings behind these images.
In her video series “overcoming depression,” Vi clocks how she lives with anxiety and
chronic depression moment-by-moment as she goes about her day. Her accounts are
specific, ongoing and contrast other portrayals of online vulnerability that can
sometimes seem performative.
This focus on how wellness journeys feel over how they look is also emerging in the
fitness space. Body neutrality is a growing movement that encourages people to
accept their body, without needing to focus on its appearance. When it comes to
wellness, young and old generations are adopting this kind of mentality. As of 2022,
mental and emotional wellbeing became the number one reason Americans
exercised – ranking over physical or aesthetic goals for the first time.
Wellness brands will need to consider where they may overly focus on consumers’
appearance, rather than the feelings behind them. New social platforms that focus
on wellness are doing this via image-free or audio-only content. Noting that 56% of
US Gen Z females say social media makes them feel bad about their appearance, the
app Chill Pill takes a different approach. The platform only lets users post about
their mental health via voice recordings and avatars in anonymity. Bodyform

Bodyform’s Periodsomnia campaign features real-life and un-aestheticised portrayals of

experiencing period pain and insomnia

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Anti-routines
Extra time spent at home and in solitude during lockdowns ignited a desire for
wellbeing and routine. However, since 2022, more Gen Zers are divesting from
routine culture, with many calling out the #thatgirl lifestyle and other wellness
routines as just another version of toxic productivity.

The hashtag # thatgirl has become a way for young women to document this pursuit,
sharing videos of their hyper-productive and health-focused schedules, it has racked
up 5bn views on TikTok. It also aligns with a global study that found 60% of
Millennials and Gen Z say the pandemic's most lasting change will be their focus on
their health.
But according to 2022 data, young people are now more likely to experiment with a
wider range of self-care practices rather than follow one strict routine. Lululemon's
Global Wellbeing Report found that consumers not only increased their number of
self-care tools in the past year, but are specifically focused on less-regimented
practices, such as being outdoors (10%) or watching an uplifting movie (+7%).
These changes point to a new approach to wellness that doesn’t just exist in a
straightforward routine, but rather a flexible lifestyle. For binary-blurring Gen Z, this
makes sense. In the US, where young people overwhelmingly consider themselves
to be healthy, one study from 2019 found that 31% reported they had vaped in the
past month.
Rather than preach one set routine, brands will need to encourage less traditional
versions of self-care, where no one version of 'perfect health' exists. UK department
Woo
store Selfridges leans into this mindset with its Feel Good Bar, which sells wellness
outside of an 8am skincare routine, with a focus on sleep, sex and hangover repairs.
New wellness platform Woo covers feel-good wellness rituals and spaces outside of an 8am
skincare routine, from festival culture to bird watching

“Wellness has become really performative, and it can become

more stressful, in a way. There’s a general consensus now, where a
lot of people are viewing the ‘that girl’ thing as just a performance
on TikTok"

Sabrina Sadeghian, the 24-year-old co-founder of 4AM Skin

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Anti-wellness aesthetic:
Ugly health
Compared with the curated 'that girl' aesthetic, purposefully ugly visuals embrace chaos and humour to
depict a memeified version of Gen Z health.

@seamossgirlies

@seamossgirlies speaks in wellness memes

rather than inspirational mantras

@kateglavan @kateglavan
Pzaz Energy Mist Wellness influencer @kateglavan captures an
unfiltered view of her wellness journey. While
Not only does Pzaz embrace a chaotic brand image, it also chose to retail at NYC bodegas (corner other creators post "hot girl walks," she's known
stores) rather than the typical wellness store for the "fugly hag stroll".
@experimentwrld
Experiment's Avant Guard sheet mask is
purposefully ugly (even ogre-like) in a shade of
Gen Z green

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Party girl wellness
Nightlife is back, and young people are eager to make up for the time,
experiences and nights out that they lost to the pandemic – in countries where
they can.

In previous years, catchphrases like 'hot girl summer' or 'vaxxed and waxed'
celebrated a YOLO mentality of living your best life. In 2022, 'feral girl summer' now
gives this mindset a more chaotic twist. With more than 120m TikTok views, the trend
endorses living recklessly without the pressure of keeping up appearances,
whether that means leaving an unhinged voicemail for an ex, not brushing your hair,
or posting drunk photos.

While usually a more conscious generation, it's possible that time spent under
lockdown is pushing Gen Z to crave rebellion. Since the pandemic, young people in
the US say they see alcohol, drug use and other risky behaviours as less harmful
than they did pre-Covid.
This group isn't looking for brands to shame their bad habits, but instead help them
counteract their effects. 4AM Skin recognises this balance with its tagline, “We’re not
here to fix your bad habits. We’re here to help your skin avoid the consequences of
them.”
If being able to balance a diet of both martinis and green juice has become the new
meaning of 'holistic', wellness experiences will need to also balance this spirit of
recklessness and repair. Along with other hangover cures flooding the market,
Mexico retreat Rancho Pescadero offers a holistic approach to party girl wellness.
At night, guests let loose at the resort's bar, then recover with a ceremonial Mayan 4AM Skin
hangover cure in the morning.
4AM Skin launched its brand at a nightclub, underlining the fact that its products are for reviving
skin after staying out all night

“I think the interest in opulence and the interest in transgression

are in some ways just pent-up frustrations from the pandemic
where people are like, I want to have fun"

Sean Monahan, journalist

5
Anti-wellness aesthetic:
Nightlife Luxe
Wellness brands should explore nightlife aesthetics, using blurry imagery, 1920s glamour and moody
indulgence to show that they can support both recklessness and repair

@dualipa

Roaring 20s-style images are important for

establishing that wellness can extend to riskier
habits

@kendalljenner
@theestablished
Influencers who once fell under the 'that girl'
Beauty and wellness brands are shifting to a moodier aesthetic, using slightly darker tones to evoke 4AM Skin @jourdansloane aesthetic are now pivoting towards more
a late-night feel indulgent themes

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Rebuilding trust
Wellness culture has become infamous for its scams, sometimes selling
pseudoscience that can hurt consumers' health more than it helps. Gen Z
brands will need to prove they're different from the rest by establishing trust,
expertise and awareness with their consumers.

In a global study, just 42% of Gen Zers said they trust brands. In the wellness
industry, where many health products remain unregulated and false claims can go
unchecked, re-establishing that trust is vital.
In response, debunking wellness culture has become a route for young people to
learn more about their health. Wellness podcast and meme page Sea Moss Girlies
plays the voice of Gen Z's wellness doubts by questioning everything from nutrition
labels to CBD claims. From this perspective, Gen Z health education can feel almost
rebellious, where exposing industry myths and misinformation is the starting point of
the conversation.
Brands can lean into this mindset by both acknowledging their industry's failings and
leveraging them to prove their own value. In May 2022, Goop, a brand known for its
controversial wellness products, launched a $120 luxury diaper. The brand later
admitted the product was a spoof, intended to draw attention to the luxury tax on
diapers in the US. Their strategy poked fun at Goop's brand reputation, while also
using the moment as a means to inspire change.
In Korea, beauty brands are leveraging trial kits to prove their value and honesty.
Newly launched cosmetics brand TOCOBO offers its own starter kit free of charge,
Youthforia
so that new consumers can test the efficacy of products for themselves.
Gen Z skincare brand Youthforia called out the industry's "clean" beauty trend, acknowledging
that the term is mostly a marketing buzzword rather than a trustworthy label

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Action points
Represent imperfect wellness
Consider how your brand can show up
for consumers on their toughest days,
whether they're battling depression or
dealing with chronic health issues. Build
leniency into products that don't require
perfect, everyday use, but instead
assume users will need built-in off days
8
Support full lifestyles over
routines
Offer consumers a range of self-care
practices that they can choose from,
based on their in-the-moment needs.
Show how these practices can be used
at different times of the day or in
different environments, depending on
the effect consumers want
Embrace new aesthetics
Explore new brand identities and
visuals that challenge the typical
wellness aesthetic. Consider 'ugly' or
memeified branding for daytime
products, or explore moody, glamorous
aesthetics for nighttime and hangover
routines
Establish consumer trust
Leverage third-party research to
authenticate any wellness benefit or
claim your brand makes. Continue
offering consumers regular quality
checks to ensure they can trust ew
products and ingredients
Related reports

Gen Z Priorities 2022

Brand Strategies: Wellness
The Future of Wellness Internet Trends: Key Research Radar: Chaos
Aesthetics to Know
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