Physical education student Victor Oliveira e Silva, 21, no longer practices crossfit – training that mixes aerobic exercises and sports, such as weight lifting. It’s not that he doesn’t like the sport, it is well suited to ensuring physical conditioning for his work as a volleyball and footvolley teacher.
But after American Greg Glassman, the founder of CrossFit Inc., the company that gave rise to the sports training program, made a mockery on Twitter after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 (the man asphyxiated to death by a police officer white in the USA), Silva stopped practicing the sport.
To make matters worse, a leaked audio of a meeting between Glassman and his team, shortly after the Twitter episode, reinforced the businessman’s racist stance.
“Racism is a topic that touches me deeply,” says Silva. “I would not be able to consume anything from any company that is involved in cases of racism or that supports racist demonstrations.”
After the scandal, amid the “Black Lives Matter” movement, CrossFit lost weight sponsors, such as Reebok, and several gyms around the world ended their membership contracts. Glassman apologized and subsequently resigned as the company’s CEO. The bleeding didn’t stop and he ended up selling the company in late June 2020, a month after Floyd’s murder.
None of that, however, made Silva change his mind.
Like physical education students, millions of young people from generation Z, who are now between 14 and 26 years old, are increasingly willing to direct their consumption according to their personal convictions. According to the global study “Edelman Trust Barometer 2022: The New Dynamics of Influence”, 67% of young people in this age group in Brazil practice activism when choosing product or service brands. In the world, this index reaches 73%.
The survey interviewed 20,400 people (among them, 6,700 young people aged between 14 and 17) between May and June this year, in Brazil and in 13 other countries – including the United States, France, Germany, Japan, India, China. and Saudi Arabia.
“The consumption behavior of young people from generation Z is intrinsically linked to their worldview”, says Marcília Ursini, vice president of consumer clients at the communication agency Edelman Brasil. “It’s what drives them to practice cancel culture: if a brand doesn’t live up to their values and beliefs, they drop it.”
More than practicing activism, the study identified that Generation Z is willing to work alongside brands: 72% of Brazilians in this age group seek joint action with brands to address issues such as climate change, poverty, racism, information quality and gender inequality. In the world, this disposition is verified in 62% of young people.
When they trust the brand name, 78% of Gen Z in Brazil “buy new products that the brand presents” and “buy the brand even if it’s not so cheap” – a higher rate than the Brazilian population in general, of 72% . Worldwide, 61% of Gen Z take the same attitude, compared to 58% of the global average for all age groups.
“When brands publicly support or demonstrate commitment to topics relevant to society, Brazilians feel more likely to buy or use their products,” says Marcília.
Less meat, less milk, less fast fashion
The study identified that, in Brazil, brands that work for “access to health” are 13 times more likely to be acquired than those that do not. The names of products or services linked to the defense of “human rights” are 12.5 times more likely to be consumed, the same rate as the defense of “racial justice”. Brands that act against “climate change” are 10.5 times more likely to be consumed and, by “gender equality”, 8 times more appeal.
After graduating in Business Administration and leaving his parents’ house in September last year, Enzo Rodrigues Nogueira, 23, claims to have changed his relationship with consumer brands. “I started to have full control over what I would consume at home”, he says, an expert in digital marketing. “I sought as much alignment as possible with the things I believe in, especially when it comes to sustainability.”
One example, he says, is the reduction in meat and dairy consumption. “I drink plant milk and prioritize brands that have a more conscious production, with less impact on the ecosystem”, he says, who stopped consuming clothing from fast fashion chains due to the impacts of the production chain.
In these fast-fashion chains, most of the clothes are made from polyester, a material that takes 200 years to decompose and releases plastic microparticles when washed.
“I also try to pay attention to personal care products, to make choices that pollute as little as possible”, he says, referring to the less use of packaging.
Among his favorite brands is Linus, a 100% recyclable plastic sandal, which displays seals such as PETA-Approved Vegan (which guarantees that the product is vegan) and Carbonext (carbon negative certification, which means offsetting twice the emissions of carbon linked to the operation).
“I also like Not Milk, a plant-based milk brand, for its proposal to replace animal products as a response to the environmental impact generated by the livestock industry”, he says.
Data from the Vegetal Production Department of the Luiz de Queiroz Higher School of Agriculture (Esalq), of the USP (University of São Paulo), indicate that, in Brazil, 85% of the land is dedicated to the production of soy and corn, with the largest part of this is destined for animal feed.
In the world, the survey pointed out that 70% of generation Z are involved in a social or political cause. In Brazil, 92% of respondents between the ages of 14 and 26 say they have concerns about safety, health, finances and social connections – a much higher percentage than the global figure of 56%.
Social media loses steam around the world as epicenter of change
While much of this concern is taken up and discussed on social media, Edelman’s research points to a global slowdown in trust for this channel as the “epicenter of societal change.”
Considering Brazilians of all age groups, who regularly post or create content online, 74% see social media as a way to change the world – in the 2018 survey, this rate was 78%. The country is, after South Africa, the one that most bets on social media as a channel to encourage changes in behavior.
“But all over the world, what we see, comparing the numbers of 2018 and 2022, is a step back from this bet on social networks, as if they were losing a little of their charm, precisely because of the amount of fake news and distorted speeches that are present in these media”, says Marcília.
Comparing the two surveys, Japan appears as the least enthusiastic on social media as the epicenter of change (43% of the population has this opinion now, compared to 68% in 2018).
The study pointed out that generation Z also generates influence over the others. Considering Brazilians of all age groups, 62% believe that adolescents and young people influence them in what they buy and 59% in their behavior change. Marcília, from Edelman, is an example.
“My daughter Nina, 18 years old, is very fond of fashion and, at the same time, is very concerned about the origin of the products”, says Marcília. “She instructed me to download an application, Moda Livre, which indicates how much clothing brands are committed to fighting slave labor. Now, I base my purchase decisions there.”
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