<![CDATA[Social media has shifted Generation Z's (Gen Z) private religious practices into a performative stage driven by digital validation. Telkomsel’s Ramadan 2026 commercial, “Tombol Hati Banyak Perkaranya,” uses a satirical narrative to criticize this culture. This study analyzes how Gen Z recepts the representation of religious flexing portrayed in the advertisement. Using a qualitative approach and Stuart Hall’s encoding-decoding model, data were gathered via in-depth interviews and visual documentation. Purposive sampling selected 8 Gen Z informants across four sub-groups: General Gen Z, Religious Content Creators, Religious Practitioners (Ustaz), and Non-Muslim Gen Z. The results indicate a dynamic decoding process influenced by the informants' social backgrounds (Field of Experience) and theological frameworks (Frame of Reference). General Gen Z occupies the Dominant-Hegemonic Position, fully accepting the commercial’s message as a reflection of compromised spiritual sincerity caused by digital metric addiction. Conversely, the majority of creators, practitioners, gen z and non-Muslims occupy the Negotiated Position. They accept the moral message regarding sincerity but reject the media's generalization stereotyping Gen Z as fake and lacking empathy. Through negotiation, they formulate digital ethical boundaries, private-ritual worship (mahdhah) is unethical for publication, while social-religious activities (ghairu mahdhah) are legitimate as modern propagation (syiar). Crucially, this study confirms the deconstruction of Maslow’s motivation theory (Esteem Needs) into a Validation-full phase, which can be resolved spiritually by transitioning toward a Meaningful phase that aligns with sincerity in Imam Al-Ghazali’s Ihya Ulumuddin.]]>
