Why the ‘Millenial vs. Gen Z Social Team’ trend is actually baduy

The corporate obsession with Gen Z chaos has turned authentic digital culture into a predictable marketing checklist.

If you’ve been on your feed lately, you’ve definitely seen the “Millennial vs. Gen Z Social Team” comparison. It is usually a split-screen showing a long, polished paragraph next to a chaotic, lowercase “buy it or don’t, idc” caption. While it blew up for being relatable, the trend has quickly reached peak baduy status.

The irony is that the Gen Z side is supposed to be chaotic and rule-breaking. But when a massive bank or a traditional food chain hops on it, you can practically feel the boardroom of executives who had to approve that “lowercase only” caption. Instead of feeling organic, the “idc bro i lab it” energy feels like a costume brands put on to look “chronically online.” There is nothing less Gen Z than a calculated attempt to look like you aren’t trying.

In the Philippines, meme culture spreads fast, but it also dies fast. By the time the 50th brand copies the format, the humor is gone and it just becomes another corporate template. It relies on tired tropes—painting Millennials as over-explainers and Gen Z as indifferent—when in reality, this is just standard marketing evolution.

Filipino audiences have a very low tolerance for pilit content. When brands try to sound like actual people by copying a viral format everyone else is doing, they end up sounding more like an ad than ever before. When everyone tries to be chaotic at the same time, the chaos becomes the new corporate. That is the definition of baduy.

 

 

By the time the 50th brand copies the format, the humor is gone and it just becomes another corporate template. It relies on tired tropes—painting Millennials as over-explainers and Gen Z as indifferent—when in reality, this is just standard marketing evolution.

 

 

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