CAPTURING THE SOCIAL MEDIA FLEXING PHENOMENON IN INDONESIA

The phenomenon of flexing wealth has become a widespread trend on Indonesian social media. This practice of showcasing affluence highlights the pronounced social class distinctions within Indonesian society. In his 2020 book “The Psychology of Money,” Morgan Housel notes that the presence of such social divides inevitably leads to social comparison, resulting in competitive wealth exposure.

Interestingly, in Indonesia, not all flexing content leads to competition among social classes; rather, it often becomes a source of entertainment. The way content creators narrate their displays of wealth and the intent behind these displays are key factors that determine the audience’s response. Here is a description of how flexing content manifests in Indonesia.

SOCIETY INTERVENES

Indonesian culture is a communal society that often turns personal matters into group matters. In a rural environment, for example, news of a person’s purchase of a new motorcycle or car can quickly spread throughout the community without any announcement from that person.

The culture of ‘kepanasan’ when neighbors buy new things is also easily found in Indonesia, and is often used as inspiration in films such as ‘Rumput Tetangga’, which received a rating of 7.4 on IMDb.com.

Consequently, many new services are provided to fulfill flexing needs in society. The existence of Iphone cell phone rentals, KLX motorcycles, and luxury cars are examples of new services that have emerged due to the flexing culture. Sometimes youths don’t even hesitate to use paylater or play online gambling just to fulfill their flexing prestige.

CONTENT CREATORS FLEXING WEALTH PHENOMENON IN INDONESIA

The flexing culture is worsened by the emergence of several flexing content creators on social media. There are at least two types of them, namely flexing with the aim of fraud and flexing with the aim of showing off the luxurious lifestyle of the rich. The first type has led to many police investigations and imprisonment. But before the content became a case, flexing content quickly became viral in Indonesia.

As marketing, flexing in Indonesia has been quite successful, even in things that are considered absurd. Like the case of Indra Kenz and Doni Salmanan who used flexing for forex marketing, whose content succeeded in getting people interested in forex and ended up with huge losses due to fraud.

In raising a case, flexing is also an effective spice to go viral. The case of Mario Dandy who assaulted his schoolmate is an example. The case became hot and was reported by many media because Mario’s social media behavior containing flexing content was also highlighted. Netizens were burned by the discussion until Mario’s father, a tax official, was involved and several names of tax officials were affected.

Thus there are also flexing whose purpose is only to show off their luxurious lifestyle without any frills selling something or fraud. This type of flexing is favored by Indonesian netizens, for example Raffi Ahmad and Bobby Saputra. Raffy Ahmad often shows off his new car or travels abroad with his family. Netizens’ comments on his content are positive and supportive.

Meanwhile, Bobby Saputra, a content creator with the viral @supercoolben account, often shows off his glamorous life with a variety of luxury items on display. He is a figure who is described as a crazy rich kid who likes to show off and does not work except as a professional son. His content satirizes the children of Indonesian conglomerates.

Although Bobby’s content is full of flexing and comedy of vanity, the netizen comments on his content are not bad. Bobby is not like Indra Kenz who flexes for fraud or like Mario who is flexing and arrogant.

He is just a content creator who parodies the lives of the children of Indonesian conglomerates with satirical intentions. However, netizens assume that Bobby’s content is not satirical, but the real reality that he is crazy rich and likes flexing. With that assumption, Bobby’s content is still not hated by netizens.

IMPACT OF CONTENT CREATORS FLEXING WEALTH

It seems that the habit of curious about the lives of others who are higher in social status has become a culture in Indonesia. That way they can imagine the life they would live if they could reach that social status. This can also be a motivation for them to work even harder in order to improve their social status and be able to enjoy the glamorous life as shown by Bobby.

But there is also a negative side, as revealed by Eunike Sarah’s FGD results with 9 young people aged 20-23 published in the journal Innovative in 2024. She found that flexible content created by influencers on Instagram influences Generation Z audiences to shop more often, prioritize value and self-esteem in luxury, and become more extravagant.

Understandably, on the one hand, not all flexing is bad and hated by Indonesians. Some flexing such as that performed by Raffi Ahmad and Bobby Saputra is flexing that netizens like, although not necessarily good. The impact of flexing content also depends on who is watching the content, but for Gen-Z, the bad impact is more likely to occur.