---
title: "Decoding the Post-90s Generation in 10,000 Words: No Brand Awareness, Selfishness and Self-Deprecation, Anti-Pretentiousness, Conservatism"
description: "After two years of reviewing numerous data reports and demographic descriptions about the post-90s generation, and having launched various products and campaigns targeting this consumer group, I'd like to share my perspective as an advertising professional. First, I must clarify that this age-based classification is unscientific and overly simplistic; even among post-90s, there are vast differences between children from elite families in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou and those from smaller cities. If age is the vertical axis, the horizontal axis should include education, family income, occupation, and other parameters to segment this generation more precisely."
author: "赵圆圆"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2017-05-05"
language: "en"
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# Decoding the Post-90s Generation in 10,000 Words: No Brand Awareness, Selfishness and Self-Deprecation, Anti-Pretentiousness, Conservatism

> After two years of reviewing numerous data reports and demographic descriptions about the post-90s generation, and having launched various products and campaigns targeting this consumer group, I'd like to share my perspective as an advertising professional. First, I must clarify that this age-based classification is unscientific and overly simplistic; even among post-90s, there are vast differences between children from elite families in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou and those from smaller cities. If age is the vertical axis, the horizontal axis should include education, family income, occupation, and other parameters to segment this generation more precisely.

Over the past two years, I've read a large number of data reports and demographic descriptions about the post-90s generation. I've also launched various products and campaigns targeting this consumer group. Today, I'd like to share my perspective as an advertising professional.

First, I must clarify that this age-based classification is highly unscientific, crude, and simplistic. Even among post-90s, there are vast differences between children from elite families in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou and those from smaller cities. If age is the vertical axis, the horizontal axis should include education, family income, occupation, and other parameters to segment this generation more finely and make the sample more precise.

However, even with more precise samples, there are always exceptions. There are certainly 18-year-olds who tend flowers, walk birds, and play with health balls. So the following views do not represent all post-90s; they are general observations.

When describing the post-90s, I'll try to compare them with the post-70s and post-80s to make things clearer.

1
**Post-90s Worldview: Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?**

The gap between the post-70s, post-80s, and post-90s is as vast as mountains and seas. This is because China, in just 30 years, transformed from an agricultural country in the Third World relying on aid to the world's second-largest economy. This rapid rise has created three generations, each about 10 years apart, with completely different perceptions of the world.

The post-70s faced heavy academic pressure, had a narrow range of life knowledge, and mostly worked to make a living, with little room for personal interests. Their youth was simple and bitter, they rarely went abroad, and they were victims of many harsh policies during the transition period, often feeling that China was lacking in many ways.

For example, I once paid a fee called "urban expansion fee" in Beijing. Specifically, because I was a migrant worker, I was seen as a burden on Beijing, requiring the city to add buses, hire more sanitation workers, expand schools, and build hospitals, so I had to pay for it.

The post-80s came of age when reform and opening up had begun to show results. By the time they entered the workforce, a flood of advanced ideas, technology, and culture from abroad was pouring in. The post-80s produced many business elites, writers, singers, and artists. Their youth was full of opportunities, making them the most ambitious generation with the biggest ups and downs in life.

The post-80s are known for their hard work. They created the "wolf culture" and the 996 work schedule. They have fewer personal hobbies, talk about money and career constantly, have poor aesthetic sense, and prefer products with high cost-performance.

The post-90s are called the "GDP dividend generation." Rapid GDP growth brought developed urban transportation, complete infrastructure, high-speed rail that can traverse the country within 8 hours, 4G networks for watching dramas on phones, mobile payments that halved the issuance of paper currency, and a plethora of lifestyle apps that free people from household chores, giving them more leisure time.

A significant portion of the post-90s have studied abroad. In their view, compared to mainland China, American restaurants have poor service, Australian delivery is too slow, and Hong Kong's mobile payments are not convenient enough. Moreover, since the world is full of "Made in China" products, the post-90s feel that China is incredibly good—in terms of public safety, delivery, and services. They also grew up during the best and newest era of infrastructure construction, so they are generally patriotic. This is the "little pink" generation.

2
**Post-90s Brand Perception: Pride and Prejudice**

The post-70s are superstitious about the functional use of brands, emphasizing use value. Thus, they prefer products with redundant features—large, all-in-one solutions. For example, they want a remote control with 100 buttons, shampoo that's 3-in-1, and painkillers that cure all kinds of pain.

Ma Huateng, born in 1971, created WeChat, the most feature-complete social app in the world, from chatting and posting moments to buying train tickets, fixing water pipes, hospital registration, and immigration visa applications.

The post-80s prefer brands with high cost-performance. This is related to their youth, when they saw many temptations but were relatively poor, hoping to buy more with less money. Thus, products with "high cost-performance," "good and cheap," "quality and low price," and "more for the same price" are most popular. The die-hard fans of promotional ads are centered on the post-80s. Double 11 was born this way.

The post-80s also have a strong belief in big brands. Perhaps after being burned too many times by "high cost-performance" products, they turned to well-known international companies. "Big brands are trustworthy" is their favorite slogan.

The post-90s like interesting brands. They don't blindly believe in foreign brands, nor do they hold high-end brands in awe. At the same time, they particularly enjoy owning luxury goods at a young age. As Xu Shunying said: "China's post-90s are rare worldwide; they can quickly age themselves, carrying LV bags on the subway and riding Mobike bikes in Gucci shoes."

The post-90s like to flock to buy trending items, which is a collective unconscious behavioral art. This has spawned various internet-famous milk teas, pork floss breads, and scallion pancakes. On the other hand, the post-90s also like to be unique, with niche brands thriving. Not wearing the same clothes as others is as important as not having the same face after plastic surgery.

The post-90s have high requirements for product fun. The smelliest surströmming, the worst-tasting Laoshan White Flower Snake Grass Water, the ugly-packaged Coconut Palm juice, the Apple-style Weilong spicy strips, and the Vita lemon tea that's "better than smoking weed"—all become objects of their pursuit. Whether it has practical value doesn't matter; as long as it's fun.

Interestingly, the post-90s pay great attention to quality for products they use themselves, but they don't care much about the brand. Among overseas purchases, skincare products are the most common. The home products from NetEase Yanxuan sell best. Removing a logo to get the same quality product gives them a "feeling of opening a new world" that they can't resist.

The post-90s also consider a person as a brand. For example, "My Favorite Closet" is a store opened by Zhang Dayi. Every time new items are released, they sell out within about 10 minutes, faster than the total sales of many fast-fashion national chains.

The post-90s also spend a lot on mobile games, anime, and web novels. For instance, the LOL world champion prize is 20 million yuan, and it's normal for streamers on Douyu to earn millions a year from gaming. But I don't think this is new; it's just another form of the previous generation's hobbies. I know a man born in the 60s who spent over 200,000 yuan on Lianzhong card games and liked to go to nightclubs. His son, born in the 90s, bought all the skins in Honor of Kings and often tips streamers. The father and son each think the other is indulging in frivolous pursuits.

3
**Media in the Eyes of the Post-90s**

From TV, newspapers, and magazines for the post-70s, to portals, forums, and Tieba for the post-80s, and then to anime, novels, e-sports, and live streaming for the post-90s, the media landscape has changed dramatically. They can watch a live stream of a subway train coming and going for half an hour, turn e-sports into an industry worth billions, and make anime artists millionaires.

A video on Bilibili that mixes subway station announcements can get over a million views.

MC Tianyou, a streamer famous for "One Person I Drink Alone," earns over 40 million yuan a year and has become a new idol for young people in small towns.

Summer Island, a leading comic company, was exposed when "China's most beautiful comic artist" Xia Da left, revealing how founder Yao Feila exploited comic artists. The topic dominated Weibo hot searches for over two months. People were shocked by two things: 1) The influence of domestic comics is so huge, and 2) The comic industry is so wealthy!

In the TFboys idol Tieba, there are no dirty posts, spam, or troll posts. The format is uniform, the order is strict, and the content is rich with images and text. It's hard to imagine that this Tieba is run by post-95s or even post-00s to post-05s.

For the post-90s, media is not TV, phone, or apps. Media is where we gather. As long as we are there, everything has value.

4
**Post-90s Psychological State: Selfishness, Narcissism, Self-Deprecation**

Selfishness

The post-90s are very self-centered, emphasizing personal preferences and having clear boundaries. However, this selfishness is based on not harming others. The post-90s dislike bothering others and are relatively independent. Many post-90s, when lost, would rather ask Gaode Maps than a local elderly person.

This is especially evident among post-90s office workers. If it's a job they like, they can work overtime until their periods become irregular, skipping sleep and meals. Think of Bilibili programmers: they could have high salaries and stock options from BAT, but they choose to stay for 5,000 yuan a month because they can be with anime girls and watch interesting videos. As ttdz once said: "Bilibili's salary is basically not enough for real life."

On the other hand, if the job is not what the post-90s want to do, just a means to make a living, then it's over. If you scold them a little, they'll either throw the notebook and confront you, or cry and resign.

Narcissism

The post-90s do many things not for a sense of achievement or to show off, but essentially to complete self-narcissism. Tongque Shushu once said: "Post-90s like to chase stars, but they don't actually like the star; they like the version of themselves that works hard to chase the star. They think: Look, I'm so devoted and wild in chasing this star, I'm awesome."

Additionally, many high-cold, introverted social apps are loved by the post-90s, such as same, Nian, yo, and nice. The social interaction the post-90s like is either very familiar or very unfamiliar.

The post-90s like to be praised and to praise themselves. They like to compare miseries and also show off wealth collectively. In short, they like to be narcissistic together with like-minded people. But if you're poor and try to squeeze into Wang Sicong's circle, you'll hinder their narcissism. Similarly, if you have a mansion but insist on sharing a rental, everyone will take advantage of you. It's not about your character; it's just that you hinder their misery comparison.

Self-Deprecation

The post-90s' self-deprecation is more advanced than simple self-mockery or self-deprecation. "XX dog" is softer than "loser." For the post-90s, self-deprecation not only relieves real-life pressure but also reflects a "little transparent" mentality.

Moreover, the post-90s not only mock themselves but also mock everything they like. For example, post-90s who like Jay Chou call him "Zhou Jielun Little Princess," and Lu Han's fans call him "silly roe deer."

The post-90s spare no effort in self-deprecation, using bold and strong words. But if they really want to mock others, they prefer polite language, like: "Zhou Libo, you're so awesome, let me clap for you."

5
**Post-90s Social Influence**

Social media communication must pass the post-90s test. The post-90s post dozens of times more daily on social media than the post-70s and post-80s combined. This means that much of the content we see must first conform to the post-90s' reading aesthetics to spread organically.

About 20 years ago, "Youth Digest" and "Reader" were the 100,000+ articles of the previous youth era. Their formulas could be summarized as: peaceful times, plain face, appreciating the ordinary, growing old together, village paths, old house renovations, social changes, and children's sweet smiles.

Today's viral articles are: "Holy crap, this is toxic," "My eyes hurt," "Stunned," "I just want to make love," "I'm dirty again," "Quickly lick the screen," "Bad posture," "Walking pheromone," and "Double-click, old bro."

I've conducted tests in public classes multiple times. Those who post at least once a day on WeChat Moments, Weibo, or any other online content fall into two extreme groups: the post-90s and the retired post-50s. The post-90s post selfies, emoji packs, funny jokes, and niche hot topics, while the post-50s almost exclusively post shock headlines and chicken soup for the soul.

6
**Post-90s Content Preferences**

They reject dogma, require the right pretentious posture, like brain-burning content, and are either extremely superficial or extremely profound, hating the middle ground. For example, if a brand does a safe, polished activity with no flaws, the post-90s think, "How can we mess this up? It's boring." Conversely, if your mechanism has loopholes or is perverse enough, the post-90s are fascinated. For instance, Hu Xinshu's H5 game "Guess the Color Code."

Extremely similar color codes, perverse difficulty. I couldn't get past level 3. I don't know what those post-90s who passed level 15 were thinking.

7
**Conservatism and Hedonism**

The decade of rapid economic growth in China coincided with the post-90s' formative years, so they are also called the "GDP dividend generation." With good living conditions, they have less drive to struggle. The post-70s welcomed reform and opening up to find dreams; the post-80s saw the world and fought for their dreams; the post-90s say, "Dreams are necessary; what if they come true?" So when advertising to the post-90s, try not to create passionate, inspirational content; they'll just think you're an idiot.

The post-90s have relatively rich experiences at a young age. Unlike many post-70s and post-80s who only start experiencing life after marriage, the post-90s have played enough, experienced enough, and then get married. This is very close to the state of young people in developed capitalist countries.

Their understanding of marriage is also different. Marriage is the start of a second life, a form of experiential consumption. At the same marriageable age, post-90s wedding photos have moved away from the previous retouched, studio-light, formal-wear, scenic-background packages. I once met a young couple who traveled around the world to take wedding photos, holding ceremonies at each location, from indigenous shaman rituals to church blessings. They kept marrying the same person; I don't know if that counts as bigamy.

The post-90s start yearning for a stable and comfortable life earlier, but not a dull one. Instead, it's one experience after another, with small changes every day and occasional ups and downs, but they don't want major upheavals. In short, life spirals upward and advances in waves.

8
**Poor Information Absorption**

The more developed information is, the easier knowledge is to obtain, but the less desire there is for new knowledge. The post-90s generally have a narrow knowledge base, poor depth of knowledge and cultural understanding, but rich life experience and maxed-out consumption skills.

This is something I didn't anticipate. I always thought that the post-90s, immersed in an information-dense era, would know everything. The reason might come from a strange phenomenon:

The post-70s: I'll first understand it in depth, then decide if I like it or not.

The post-80s: I have some information, let me see if others like it.

The post-90s: I took one look, I don't like it.

This vicious cycle of "I don't like it, so I don't want to understand it" is highly frequent among the post-90s I've met. When I ask, "Why don't you like it?" The answers are often:

I just don't like it; it's not my style.

I don't know why I don't like it; I just don't.

No need to understand; I don't like it based on my gut feeling.

**Okay, that's it. Let's start the conclusion.**

This is just my first report on the post-90s. I plan to write two more to reach 10,000 words. In fact, the post-90s are not a biological age of 18-27, but a vibrant psychological state, a dynamic mainstream social group.

**What I've seen is definitely just a fragment. I hope everyone can fill in the gaps in the comments.**

**Source: Zhao Yuanyuan on Advertising**

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