FINANCIAL ANXIETY

"When will you get married?"

"When will you have a house on your own?"

"When will you get a car of your own?"

Family should be a place where we feel safe and at home, yet during Indonesian family gatherings, we frequently hear those typical questions where one’s achievement and financial stability are brought up as topics of discussion between family members. As a result, there has been a recurring anecdote that instead of feeling at home with their families, Indonesians are leaving those gatherings feeling traumatized and anxious about their life and finances. We call this syndrome Financial Anxiety.

We released our campaign videos and KVs just a few days after Eid. We tried to connect with our Indonesian audiences by breaking the stigma of a happy family get-together during Eid and exposing the ugly truth of our inner feelings when our own family is instead the ones who caused our Financial Anxiety.

It seemed that our campaign triggered a lot of anxiety amongst users of social media because in addition to reposting our campaign materials, they also shared their own similar experiences during family gatherings. These experiences included feeling inferior to others and uncomfortable when asked about personal financial matters. Some users even admitted that they had even avoided their own family gatherings out of fear of being questioned about these topics.

In the video, we describe someone's Financial Anxiety over being questioned about when will she has a house on her own, someone’s Financial Anxiety over being questioned about when will he has a car on his own so he won't need to get a lift from his friends. And someone's Financial Anxiety over being questioned about her financial stability as her cousin and nephew asked her for pocket money.