9-to-5 jobs, ChatGPT, and preventive Botox: Gen Z is not falling for any of this ‘propaganda' in 2025
A new TikTok trend, set to a snippet of Charli XCX's 'I Think About It All the Time' featuring Bon Iver, sees users, particularly Gen Z women, sharing lists of 'propaganda' they're not falling for in 2025.
One list, shared by TikTok creator Lxyzfbxx, includes the 'clean girl look,' 'the normalization of OF [OnlyFans],' and 'preventative Botox,' among other things.
Another user listed 'organic deodorant,' 'Teslas,' and 'mouth tape' among the modern-day propaganda.
A third user included 'push-up bras,' 'being anti-sunscreen,' and 'branded sweatshirts.'
A fourth took aim at 'working,' 'a 9-5,' and 'employment.'
From social media trends to beauty standards, internet users are drawing attention to the capitalist, political, and aesthetic pressures that they're subjected to daily, and they are de-normalizing those they see as unhealthy, undesirable, or just cringe.
'Propaganda I won't be falling for': How did the trend start?
While it's hard to pinpoint exactly where the trend began, it's clear that it's caught on: If there's one thing social media loves, it's a hot take—and it can be on anything from working a full-time job to singer-songwriter Benson Boone.
For instance, 2024 was the year of the 'in' and 'out' lists. Now, with the hashtag 'propaganda' currently at over 240,000 posts on TikTok, we have the 2025 version of a similar trend.
However, what is and what isn't propaganda varies wildly, depending on whom you ask. The comments section below many of these videos is a hotbed for debate.
'Sorry but i WILL be falling for the Labubu propaganda everytime,' one person commented under a list that included the viral dolls.
'I hate to admit it but Dubai chocolate is soooo bomb,' another commented under a propaganda list that included the pistachio-flavored chocolate.
Take these opinions with a rather large pinch of salt. One frequent name that appears on many of these lists is singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams.
Does that mean the poster actually dislikes Abrams's music? Not necessarily. As one TikTok user told The New York Times: 'I think sometimes the internet just likes to have a running gag.' (Jumping on the Gracie Abrams hate train, in other words, might just be good for views.)
Casey Lewis, of the youth consumer trends newsletter After School, did the legwork and tallied up the most commonly mentioned 'propaganda' across hundreds of TikToks.
The top 10 list she compiled included matcha, the tradwife movement, MAHA-adjacent trends like beef tallow and anti-seed oil, author Colleen Hoover, and milk (both of the oat and cow variety).
Coming in at the No. 1 spot, to no one's surprise, is ChatGPT.
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