A movement started on the social media platform has gone horribly wrong, after teens got tattooed with a generation symbol – Gen Z tattoo, thinking it was just a fun design.
This comes from a popular TikTok trend that has encouraged members of Gen Z to get matching tattoos of a symbol associated with Nazism.
Gen Z years?
Generation Z (or Gen Z for short), colloquially known as zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha.
The breakdown by age looks like this:
- Baby Boomers: Baby boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. They’re currently between 57-75 years old
- Gen X: Gen X was born between 1965 and 1979/80 and is currently between 41-56 years old
- Gen Y: Gen Y, or Millennials, were born between 1981 and 1994/6. They are currently between 25 and 40 years old
- Gen Z: Gen Z is the newest generation, born between 1997 and around 2012/2015. They are currently between 6 and 24 years old
Where does Gen Z tattoo come from?
The symbol, a capital Z with a line through the middle, was proposed by the Tiktok user who started the trend, @smoothavacado, as a representation of “unity” and “a sign of rebellion” for Gen Z.
@kcmbrly#duet with @smoothavacado yea maybe don’t 😍😍🙌 let find a different symbol, okay? 🥰🥰♬ original sound – Jordyy
She posted a picture of a Gen Z tattoo that she wanted it to look like – not knowing that it had a horrible historic meaning.
Other users were quick to point out the likeness between a “Z” with a line through it and the Wolfsangel symbol – which is often associated with the Nazi party and other white supremacist groups.
It’s unclear how many people actually got the tattoo but a number of images and videos appeared on the video-sharing platform showing the “Gen Z tattoo”, with some users boasting about joining the trend.
 |
 |
Additionally, the original video that kicked off the trend has now been deleted by its creator: @smoothavacado also made an apology video, in which she explains that she wasn’t aware of the symbol’s white supremacist origins.
