TikTok’s latest viral trend causes risk for brands—what marketers should know about ‘underconsumption’

Between TikTok’s endless supply of lavish “get ready with me” routines, its plethora of sponsored videos featuring influencers peddling products, and the surge of shoppable videos that have flooded For You pages since the U.S. launch of TikTok Shop nearly one year ago, TikTok users today face more pressure than ever to purchase every semi-viral product that appears on their screens. But a number of influencers and ordinary consumers alike are pushing back against TikTok’s increased glorification of consumerism with a new online movement: underconsumption. The trend, which first took off in mid-July, rejects the massive shopping hauls and excessive collections of beauty products (or Stanley cups) that have long ruled TikTok. Instead, underconsumption promotes a less wasteful approach to shopping that encourages consumers to purchase only products they truly need, rather than the ones that their For You feed or favorite influencers insist they buy. This message has largely taken the form of TikTok videos romanticizing “underconsumption core,” an aesthetic characterized by mismatched furniture, secondhand clothing and minimal collections of makeup and skincare products, among other displays of frugality. Several users have alternatively referred to the movement as simply “normal consumption” or “normal consumption core.” @kira.knapp normal consumption #underconsumption ♬ Don't Know Why - Norah Jones Navigating the underconsumption trend is risky territory for brands, which, of course, are ultimately aiming to drive sales through their social media content. Even for brands with sustainable practices or secondhand product programs such as Madewell and J.Crew, attempting to engage with underconsumption is “a really slippery slope,” as they’re still regularly pumping out new products at the same time, Casey Lewis, author of Gen Z trendspotting newsletter After School, told Ad Age. “It would be very, very hard for a brand to convincingly engage in the underconsumption core trend,” Lewis cautioned. “If you exist in corporate America, you really can’t claim to promote underconsumption core in a way that I don’t think backlash will follow.” Instead, she advises marketers to view the underconsumption phenomenon as a lesson in what themes or ideas to exclude from their Gen Z-oriented social content, rather than an opportunity to participate in a TikTok trend, she said. “Now would not be the time to engage with the ‘If I like it, I’ll buy it in another color’ [trend]. Any of these sort of memes that are really hitting hard on consumption, I would steer clear of,” Lewis said. “That's why it’s important for brands to really understand what’s happening across social media, whether or not they are actually engaging with a meme or trend.” @devamshagunput gimme ALL your tips please!!! #underconsumption #underconsumptioncore #underconsumerism #overspending #overconsumerism ♬ original sound - Devamsha | financial hot girl For the majority of brands, attempting to engage in the underconsumption trend is the equivalent of “a liquor brand sponsoring Alcoholics Anonymous,” said Nathan Jun Poekert, founder, executive consultant and chief marketing officer advisor at consulting practice Jun Social. “I just don’t know if a lot of brands should be jumping on this, specifically when they are the largest contributors for why this trend is even happening,” he said. “It's just kind of an opening for you to be criticized rather than celebrated for promoting this ... I don’t really see this as an opportunity. I kind of see it as more of a risk.” Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Gen Z and underconsumption Underconsumption is effectively a sister movement to the ongoing “de-influencing” trend that first gained momentum on TikTok in early 2023, when influencers urged TikTok users to avoid buying viral products they considered overrated. Lewis anticipates that the underconsumption movement is also on track to settle in for the long haul on TikTok—and it’s a trend marketers “absolutely” need to be paying attention to. “I don’t think [underconsumption] has necessarily hit its peak,” she said. And I think it’s something that we’re going to continue to see—sort of like de-influencing. De-influencing isn't over, and I don't think it will ever be over.” Also read: What Gen Z wants from brands’ sustainability reporting Indeed, the deinfluencing hashtag has continued to steadily amass views on the platform since the term initially entered the TikTok zeitgeist, climbing from 208 million views in February 2023 to over 1.3 billion in January 2024, according to eMarketer data. The underconsumption hashtag, too, has consistently drawn TikTok’s attention over the past month and has sparked the creation of roughly 7,000 videos tied to the trend, per TikTok data. @devamshagunput Cup girl where art thou 🗣️🗣️🗣️ #underconsumption #underconsumerism #minimalism #underconsumptioncore #minimalist #minimalstyle ♬ BIRDS OF A FEATHER sped up - Dear.angel.lacy14 “I think that, like any trend or micro-trend, [underconsumption] is laddering up to something larger,” Lewis added. “It’s sort of whispering to a larger societal sentiment, which is that [Gen Z] doesn’ want to over-consume and keep consuming at the pace that they are. But existing in the world online, on TikTok, we’re just constantly bombarded with stuff.” One factor behind the rise of underconsumption was the backlash against the excessive amount of gifted products influencers including Darcy McQueeny and Mikayla Nogueira displayed in massive unboxing videos earlier this year, Lewis said. She also noted the underconsumption trend emerged shortly before Amazon’s Prime Day sales event. Some influencers who have made their own “underconsumption core” videos explicitly referenced Prime Day in their posts and urged their viewers to not buy products they don’t need just because they were part of the sales event. “I think this is just sort of building off of that, right, where it’s like, people are kind of grossed out about this idea of having too much stuff—especially as it sort of plays out on TikTok,” Lewis said. Dozens of TikTok users who have leveraged the #underconsumption hashtag describe feeling “sick” or “gross” after the trend forced them to acknowledge how many unnecessary products they own. @wears.aoife idk something about seeing it all laid out actually makes me feel nauseous even though I used to own a lot more things! #underconsumption #underconsumptioncore #overconsumption #bodycare #collection #perfumecollection #makeupcollection ♬ original sound - speedz! Poekert attributes at least some of the buzz around underconsumption to creators attempting to capitalize on the trend to give their engagement rates a boost and strengthen their audience’s trust in them. He pointed out that many influencers flaunting their stripped-down skincare routines or thrifted clothing collections are likely revealing only a portion of the products they own, simply to participate in the buzzy trend, rather than truly embracing the “underconsumption core” lifestyle. This hypocrisy has been mocked by several TikTok users, including below. @abbey.marie7 underconsumption core:) ill never understand people who have over consumption. #trending #fyp #foryou ♬ Don't Know Why - Norah Jones Other influencers have avoided even attempting to pretend they practice underconsumption. Instead, they’ve tried to glamorize their overconsumption, though commenters have been quick to criticize their massive hoards of beauty products. “Put me back on underconsumption core,” the top comment on one such video reads. “Environmentally I disagree with this so much,” another commenter wrote on the video. “There’s kind of been a collective overindulgence in the haul videos, the ‘stock my fridge’ videos and the cleaning videos that just felt like they were so unbearably product heavy,” said Alexa Tonner, co-founder and chief operating officer at influencer marketing agency Collectively. “I think people watched those at first with sort of fascination, and then with maybe envy or interest,” she said. “And then I think they just got sick of them. And this underconsumption trend is definitely a response to that, and a reminder of what I think people kind of knew all along when they first saw those videos, like, ‘That’s an absurd amount of stuff. We don't really need all that stuff.’” Despite the underconsumption trend’s proximity to Amazon Prime Day, the retail giant reported this year’s sales event was its largest-ever Prime Day and drove “record sales” totaling around $14.2 billion—11% more than consumers spent during Prime Day 2023, according to Adobe Analytics. But many of the Gen Z consumers embracing “underconsumption core” on TikTok lack the discretionary income to splurge on events such as Prime Day, making the shopping behaviors associated with underconsumption a necessity rather than a fun, fleeting trend. Two-thirds of Gen Zers are currently “implementing lifestyle changes” to save money, such as cutting back on dining out or switching their grocery shopping trips to more affordable stores, according to a new Bank of America report. Additionally, 30% of Gen Zers said their incomes aren’t large enough to start building up savings, and just under half (46%) reported relying on financial assistance from their families, per the report. That clear connection between Gen Z and the underconsumption trend might make brands eager to engage in the online movement to get in front of young consumers—but marketers shouldn’t be “hitting the panic button” and rushing to make their own underconsumption core videos simply to stay relevant on TikTok, Poekert said. Though fashion or beauty brands regularly pushing out new products would struggle to justify participating in the underconsumption trend, Gen Z consumers may be receptive to underconsumption messaging from brands with sustainability baked into their business models—including secondhand clothing marketplaces such as ThredUp and Poshmark or clothing rental platforms such as Urban Outfitters’ Nuuly, he said. More than 80% of Gen Z consumers have either purchased or are interested in purchasing apparel secondhand, nearly 11% more than the average percentage across all other age groups, according to new research from Capital One Shopping. Watch Nuuly’s biggest campaign to date Vaseline, one of Collectively’s clients, subtly leaned into underconsumption without directly referencing the trend. The Unilever-owned brand reposted a video a TikTok user had uploaded a few months prior showing off her family’s 16-year-old tub of Vaseline and telling her audience she had to buy her own for the first time. @vaselinebrand This one’s a keeper 🙌 @mel #Vaseline #SkincareProducts #SkincareJourney #EndofanEra ♬ original sound - Vaseline Brand “[Vaseline] has a lot to bring to a conversation about underconsumption, because you really only need one product for a lot of different uses,” Tonner said. “I think it’s an opportunity for brands to remind people of their purpose and their usefulness and be part of that conversation” Clothing brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Skims and Quince have also indirectly engaged with the underconsumption movement by tasking TikTok creators with assembling “capsule wardrobes,” or small collections of clothing that can be mixed and matched into a slew of different outfits, comprised of the brands’ apparel, Poekert said. “But even then, those creators potentially risk getting attacked by their own audience for trying to create a narrative about underconsumption but promoting a brand in the process,” he added. “It’s almost like you’re marketing against yourself ... and you're just opening yourself up to criticism.”

TikTok’s latest viral trend causes risk for brands—what marketers should know about ‘underconsumption’

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