Digital Brand Safety
The secret emoji languageyour brand needs to understand.
Why the language of Gen Z and Alpha isn’t always what it seems, and what brands must do about it.
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Online language isconstantly evolving.
At HAUS OF PARK, we spend a lot of time embedded in the worlds where Gen Z and Alpha actually live; not just demographically, but culturally. From Twitch chats to TikTok rabbit holes, Discord servers to fan-fueled ARGs, we see how language is constantly evolving in the spaces where your campaigns show up. And right now, there’s a growing gap between what kids are saying and what most adults think they’re saying.
It’s not just a language shift.
Take emojis, emotes, acronyms. What looks like innocent expression to most grown-ups can actually carry coded messages—sometimes playful, sometimes flirtatious, sometimes dangerous. This isn’t just a language shift. It’s a growing concern, especially as cyberbullying, misogynistic ideology, and toxic subcultures find ways to embed themselves in plain sight.
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Understanding the hidden languageof youth is now part of digital brand safety.
If you’re building campaigns on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Roblox, YouTube, or Twitch, you’re not just showing up in a media channel: you’re entering younger generations’ lives. And with that comes responsibility.
Why decoding this language is critical.
The same platforms brands use to reach youth audiences are also the spaces where harmful content can spread invisibly. Coded emojis, slang, and layered visual language can be weaponized to bully, exclude, or radicalize…with adults (and algorithms!) often none the wiser. That’s why decoding this hidden language is so critical. In the next section, we’ll explore a campaign that does exactly that: shedding light on what too often slips by unnoticed.
Brands and agencies have a duty to understand this language—not just to stay relevant, but to ensure their ecosystems are safe. A campaign that ignores the reality of coded bullying might unwittingly amplify it. A live chat that’s not moderated with emoji fluency could become a playground for harassment. And a brand that turns a blind eye risks more than just a PR crisis. It risks losing the trust of an entire generation.
It’s no longer enough to simply be present online. You have to be fluent in the language, accountable for the environment you help create, and proactive in identifying the hidden symbols that can signal harm.
Because when you market to young people, you’re not just speaking to consumers. You’re entering their world.
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The codes aren’t fiction.They’re public.
Allianz France made it impossible to look away. In a bold Paris metro campaign produced in collaboration with Ogilvy Paris, the company decoded the hidden meanings behind emojis—exposing how teens weaponize symbols that most adults still read as harmless.
The result? A striking awareness push that finally met youth where they actually are: inside their own digital dialects.
The case ofNetflix’s Adolescence.
And, as it often happens, fiction mirrored fact. Netflix’s Adolescence, a haunting mini-series shot in unbroken takes, nailed what most brands still miss: the coded cruelty in plain sight. In it, 13-year-old Jamie is bullied by classmates using a language no adult in the room truly understands: emojis. A 💯 tags him as “involuntarily celibate.” A 💊 hints at red pill ideology. Even heart colors carry subtext. What looks harmless is anything but, and the ongoing bullying pushes Jamie over the edge.
The data speaks for itself.
It’s not just dramatized. A Dans Ta Pub study found that 75% of French adults believe they “get” youth emoji codes, yet only 1.3% could decode them correctly. The disconnect is massive. And when brands misread these cues, they don’t just miss the moment. They risk becoming complicit in the harm.
Students know the stakes. On May 9, thousands walked out across Quebec, protesting a government move to ban phones all day in schools.
The aim? To curb cyberbullying. The backlash? Instant. Tens of thousands signed petitions. Because for this generation, phones aren’t just tools. They’re identity, communication, even survival.
And the threats don’t end when the bell rings.
In Canada, 91% of youth aged 15–24 use social media daily. One in five has faced cyberbullying or cyberstalking. Over half have witnessed it. And nearly 80% say abusive content is something they “regularly” encounter. Hate speech, misinformation, coded exclusion…It doesn’t pause when the school day ends. (Source)
It follows them home. Into their feeds. Into the very digital arenas where your brand might already be showing up. If you think your brand can sit this one out, think again.
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What brands can do next.
At HAUS OF PARK, we don’t just “target Gen Z and Alpha.” We build with them. We play where they play. From Twitch to Roblox, from ARGs to emoji-coded subcultures, we specialize in the platforms where digital culture happens.
So how can your brand act both fluently and responsibly?
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- [001]MAKE MODERATION SMARTER.
- [002]MAP THE MEANING.
- [003]ACT IN REAL TIME.
- [004]ELEVATE AWARENESS.
- [005]BE SPECIFIC.
Build dynamic glossaries that track how language shifts across niche communities and meme cycles.
Set alerts for clusters of high-risk language so red flags don’t become headlines.
Design campaigns that teach, not preach. Like Allianz, use creativity to decode what’s invisible to most.
Publish community guidelines that cover coded language and emoji misuse and not just explicit slurs.
Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X Empowering mods X
Empower your community.
And above all: empower your community to speak with you, not just listen to you.
In our ARG with game studio Don’t Nod, we didn’t just moderate from the outside. We appointed trusted community members as in-world guides and campaign co-mods. Their fluency became ours. Their voice became our voice. That signal of reciprocity didn’t just keep things safe. It built real belonging.
Understanding how Gen Z and Alpha communicate isn’t a “Gen Z strategy.” It’s a brand safety strategy. A trust strategy. A growth strategy. Because when you speak their language with fluency, empathy, and integrity, you don’t just show up in their world. You get invited into it.
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For Gen Z and Alpha, this isn’t just online life:
it is life.
For Gen Z and Alpha, digital spaces are real life. There is no clear line between IRL and URL. Phones are more than devices—they’re extensions of identity, connection, and agency. Social platforms are where they build friendships, fall in love, protest injustice, do homework, discover culture, and shape their worldview.
From cellphone bans to community activism,the digital sphere mobilizes youth.
That’s why moves like Quebec’s school-wide cellphone ban, coming in Fall 2025, sparked walkouts and online petitions with tens of thousands of signatures. To adults, it might seem like a harmless effort to curb distraction. But to these digital natives, it feels like social exile. Because for them, being disconnected doesn’t just mean losing access to a screen: it means being cut off from community.
And that community is more complex and more powerful than most brands realize.
Take Roblox. It isn’t just a playground: it’s a political arena. With over 85 million daily users, it’s one of the most active digital spaces on the planet. And in the face of rising police brutality, ICE raids, and anti-immigration policies, youth aren’t just organizing in the streets. They’re mobilizing in the metaverse. In protest maps built by players themselves, avatars clash with ICE officers, carry protest signs, and chant in digital unison. As Rolling Stone reported, these Roblox demonstrations have become a powerful outlet for political expression, showing that even in virtual worlds, Gen Z and Alpha are finding ways to resist, rally, and reimagine what activism can look like.
But just as these spaces can empower and connect, they can also be used to harm. A subculture exists that weaponizes emojis, slang, and layered visual codes to exclude, harass, and radicalize. And it’s often invisible to adults and algorithms alike.
Understanding these coded signals isn’t just cultural insight. It’s essential for brand safety, digital well-being, and ethical participation in online ecosystems.
Cutting off access isn’t the answer. Learning the language is.
Because when we decode what’s hidden and empower those within the community to shape the rules, we don’t just create safer spaces. We create spaces that belong to them.
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