Brands tap into 'Crazy ID Badge' trend riding high on workplace mockery

Recently, ‘Crazy ID Badges’ among post-00s white collar workers have become a trending topic on Xiaohongshu. User-generated content featuring these quirky badges is flooding the platform.

There are over 190,000 notes related to the topic ‘Crazy ID Badges‘ on Xiaohongshu.

Traditional ID badges typically display a person’s department, position, name, and a headshot. However, ‘Crazy ID Badges,’ as the name suggests, are a new ‘mock-the-workplace‘ trend among the post-00s generation, who use these badges to display humorous and eccentric phrases from their work life, turning them into a form of self-expression. This trend began on Xiaohongshu with a post by workplace blogger @打工人关怀中心 titled ‘I just have to say, my colleagues are really quite bold...,’ which has garnered 84,000 likes, 24,000 saves, and 13,000 comments to date.

Post-00s netizens are using puns on their surnames to express their workplace feelings, giving off a ‘subtly crazy’ vibe. For example, someone with the surname Chen might create a badge that reads ‘Chen Zhu Qi,’ which sounds exactly like ‘Stay Calm’ in Chinese, with a quirky tagline underneath like, ‘I'm working on it, if you hurry me again, you do it yourself.’ Images: Trending note about ‘Crazy ID Badges‘ from workplace blogger @打工人关怀中心 on Xiaohongshu

There are also workplace personas based on the ‘Crazy ID Badge’ meme. For instance, badges might have names like ‘Anti-PUA Expert (反PUA达人),’ ’Company Extra (公司群演),‘ or ’Urban Slave(都市隶人).‘ Image: Xiaohongshu @打工人关怀中心

Whether it's playing with surname puns or adopting workplace personas, the craze for ‘Crazy ID Badges’ reveals a workplace attitude of either being indifferent to everything or not to be messed with. In fact, the ‘crazy’ behavior among workers has been around long before these badges. They often change their computer screensavers to images of ‘Empresses in the Palace (甄嬛传) with quotes’ or DIY paper handcuffs at their desks to subtly mock the workplace.

Computer screensavers featuring of ‘Empresses in the Palace (甄嬛传) with quotes going like ‘If you can read this text clearly, you're too close and it's making me uncomfortable. Please back off.’ Image: Note from @努力的皮皮居

DIY paper handcuffs at their desks. Image: Note from @Yuriiii on Xiaohongshu

They've fenced off their workstation with yellow barriers. Image: Note from @只为君故 on Xiaohongshu

Brands have also jumped on the ‘Crazy ID Badges’ trend, engaging with young people and closing the gap between them. Some brands create badges for their popular products to highlight their strengths. Others incorporate practical workplace usage of their products into the badges, ensuring that even when employees are ‘going crazy,’ they don't forget to use the products.

Luckin Coffee’s ‘Crazy ID Badges‘ for its hero products in summer. Images: Note from @ 瑞幸咖啡 on Xiaohongshu

Subway’s ‘Crazy ID Badges‘ for its hero products. Image: Note from @赛百味Subway on Xiaohongshu

Deeyeo’s ‘Crazy ID Badges‘ promoting its wet wipes with the title ‘Lady on Paid Bathroom Break.’ Image: Note from @Deeyeo 德佑 on Xiaohongshu

As a form of social currency among young people, the ‘Crazy ID Badge’ trend has attracted many FMCG brands to join the conversation. However, brands with an upscale tone or style need to be cautious when jumping on the trend to avoid creating a misaligned brand image.