Teenagers Turn TikTok Memes Into $177 Aura Battles Across 6 Countries
Updated
Updated · Euronews · Aug 22
Teenagers Turn TikTok Memes Into $177 Aura Battles Across 6 Countries
3 articles · Updated · Euronews · Aug 22
Summary
Mexico City teenagers are staging “aura farming” face-offs in public spaces, using memes, poses and viral gestures to prove who projects more charisma, style and confidence.
At a recent battle outside the Palace of Fine Arts, contestants mixed references like Cristiano Ronaldo’s “Siuuu,” “mewing” and other TikTok-coded moves, with judges rewarding attitude and crowd reaction as much as meme fluency.
Kaled Rosales Salazar won the Mexico contest and a 3,000-peso prize — about $177 — after performing with props including an oversized white sandal; in Argentina, some events offer only bragging rights such as “infinite aura.”
The trend, driven mainly by 14- to 20-year-olds, has spread through Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and now Spain, even drawing nods from Boca Juniors on X.
Adults and officials remain split: a Honduran mayor has banned the battles, while a Venezuelan psychologist says they can pull teens off individual screens and into face-to-face socializing.