HALAL INFLUENCERS: A REPRESENTATION OF THE TREND OF HALAL -FOOD CONSUMPTION AMONG THE INDONESIAN MUSLIM MIDDLE CLASS

Nowadays, the interest of the world's Muslim community in the consumption of halal food has increased. As a country with the largest Muslim population in the world, Indonesia has played important roles in halal-food consumption with attractive trends in the making. In this case, the role of halal influencers on social media is absolute significant in which their presences have shed light on the issue and influenced the trends . This research intends to track the strategy and impact of Muslim influencers in fostering cultural aspects of of halal-food consumption in Indonesia, particularly among Generation Z. This study employed a qualitative approach by using netnography through some influencers’ accounts, such as


A. INTRODUCTION
This paper discus about the phenomenon of Muslim influencers on social media who bring the discourse of halal-food consumption culture as a form of negotiation of the Muslim middle class with modernization through new media technology.The term influencer in question is Muslims middle-class who are popular through their consistent activities on social media platforms.Its role is seen as having a significant influence on the audience, in this case the wider community.The role played is not limited to religious understanding of food consumption based on Islamic values, but also as a form of response to popular and cultural consumption habits in Indonesia.This study is different from most studies of halal-food consumption culture with previous new media that tend to discuss categorization, commodification, and trends in the consumption of Islamic products.The focus of this study is on the aspirations of influencers in internalizing religious understanding of halal-food consumption to other generations and classes on Instagram.
The modern-oriented lifestyle of the Muslim middle class shows a change in the Islamic way of life (Sukardani, Setianingrum, and Wibisono 2018).The Muslim middle class in Malaysia was shaped by government design through The New Economic Policy (NEP) program.They were given higher education to Europe in the hope of boosting the country's economy by studying the principles of consumerization.They are educated, have jobs, earn well, have relatively high consumptive power, and have a lifestyle that refers to Islamic values (Fischer 2011).A similar Muslim middle class in Indonesia emerged in urban areas after the new order period.Its emergence was formed through the religious understanding of Islam which became popular through television, magazines, and other media (Rakhmani 2016).
The consumptive Muslim middle class lifestyle then developed into a culture of consumption with Islamic values in every aspect of its life.With the challenges of globalization and the influx of other cultures, the boundaries of Islam are not without their constraints.In Malaysia, ethnic Chinese with a culture of pig consumption and other Malay ordinary communities that are more resistant to Islamic consumption values are the problem and target of halalization (Fischer 2011).On the other hand, the development of a halal lifestyle is a reflection of religious rationality (Sukardani et al. 2018;Utami 2019).Halal is a guarantee for Muslims that consumer products do not go out of the corridors of Islamic values.Although the majority of Indonesia's population is Muslim (Databoks 2022) the Muslim consumption culture in Indonesia still likes traditional food.Street Food is a place that is often visited considering its affordable price, delicious taste, and close access.

Unlike
Interest in visiting can increase significantly when viewed from the social media that says that the service in the place is good (KNEKS 2021).This is in line with Z generation with characters who are all digital, want to know high and try to be up to date (Stillman and Stillman 2017).Influencers use social media as a contestation space for halal consumption.The emergence of a halal movement dominated by the middle class in the frame of piety tried to present itself to the public sphere in an expression of religious understanding.This was followed by a shift in Islamic orientation based on the process of Islamization of the new model (New Model Islamization).At the same time, this expression also results in changes in people's consumption patterns (Alam 2018).

B. METHODOLOGY
This research uses a qualitative approach with a netnography approach (Kozinets 2010)

Muslim Influencers as Representations of the Indonesian Muslim Middle Class
The halal lifestyle culture emerged when there was a surge in Islamic banking expansion since the 1970s that allowed Muslims to participate in global capital and commodity markets (Kuran 2006;Tripp 2006).They call for avoiding the excessive consumption associated with the Western culture of capitalist consumerism, as well as providing a reference to Islamic principles in modern economic practice (Kuran 2006).The appeal is a consequence of indirectly interrelated globalization (Rakhmani 2016).The Market practices and consumption of the middle class then bring space and means to the center of Islamic and Western discussions (Boubekeur 2005).In Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, and India, as well as the UK, and Australia, the emergence of the Muslim middle class is an issue that is coming to the fore (Sandikci and Ger 2011).He linked Islamic principles to consumption habits (Nasr 2009;Wong 2007) which gave birth to well-known global brands by promoting the halal shopping experience.These Muslim consumers are conservative in value but liberal in market practice and believe it to be the driving force of modernization (Nasr 2009).
Influencer is defined as someone who creates content on social media that has a significant impact (Vaibhavi Nandagiri and Philip 2018).Muslim middle-class proselytizing in new media through the representation of Muslim influencers has the power to attract sympathy and audience interest can be represented in micro-celebrity terms, where these influencers manage to visually wrap material and shape it in such a way as to attract their loyal followers (Abidin 2016(Abidin , 2018;;Annisa 2018).
Micro-celebrity is an important element in producing Islamic identity among influencers symbolically, with techniques that can attract audiences, and can even form the Islamic public community itself (Abidin 2018;Beta 2019;Hasan 2009).
Interestingly, micro-celebrity is used by Muslim influencers who can certainly come from class groups, including those used by the Muslim middle class.Micro-celebrity always prioritizes the intimacy or closeness of his personal life to be shared and become a consumption in public spaces (Raun 2018).In the end, Muslim influencers play a role in translating various forms of representation through images or videos with stories and narrations through their faces, voices, and bodies in each of their photos, captions, and stories becoming a special attraction for their followers on social media (Ward 2020).

Understanding Muslim Consumption in the Halal Concept
Each  (Awan, Siddiquei, and Haider 2015).Halal certification can be seen by the presence of a halal logo on the product packaging.To ensure that the halal logo is genuine, consumers can see the halal certification number which is usually listed under the halal logo on the product packaging.In addition, it is important to know the composition of the product by special terms denoting non-halal ingredients, such as pork, lard and others derived from pigs.

Culture on Instagram
The Halal Influencer is defined as an Instagram user who creates content about halal consumption culture (halal lifestyle).
@aishamaharani, @dianwidayanti, and @anca.idcan be categorized as halal influencers who are classified as microcelebrity.This analysis uses Anthony Giddens' agency theory to

Content about Noodles that went viral among young people "Mie Gacoan"
The content about the noodle product that is going viral and has not yet received halal certification has received thousands of likes and some comments.With Instagram's algorithm, the content that is currently viral makes it easy for the audience to find it even though they don't follow the influencer's halal account."Gacoan" means girlfriend-boyfriend, gambling bet, or a mainstay.
When opening a discussion space through Instagram stories or feeds about food stalls or restaurants that are crowded with Muslim communities, which apparently do not have halal certification, audience responds in a comment and reposts to each other.Not infrequently @aishamaharani, @dianwidayanti, and @anca.idupload each other to maintain connectivity, mutual confirmation and verification of knowledge.Through interactive ways, educating each other, and giving space to followers indirectly makes them into micro-celebrity.
Source: Instagram @aishamaharani, @dianwidayanti, and @anca.id,retrieved October 8, 2022.Generally, @aishamaharani, @dianwidayanti, and @anca.idprovide classifications based on introductions for easy understanding.In some cases, they suggest asking chefs, shop owners, shop assistants, or asking followers to make sure and verify the product falls into the halal or haram category.This is especially true of new food names that sound unfamiliar.The first identification that is easiest to recognize is to see whether the product or restaurant already has halal certification from a recognized institution or not.The list of Institutions can be seen in the List of Approved Foreign Halal Certification Bodies.Halal certification can be checked through the MUI application (www/halalmui.org/mui14) or the SIHALAL application (Anon n.d.) whether there is illicit contamination that is commonly used for non-critical material products (positive list) from the halal aspect (LPPOM n.d.).@anca.id, in some of his stories, he was visiting a "Warung Padang".In one of the posts, he said, although the products in the "Warung Padang" are not all on the positive list, he called it "almost no halal critical point" because Padang is an area where the influence of Islam is strong.@dianwidayanti agreed with this "Padang area" statement in an upload on his story.In addition to nasi padang, there are also nasi garut liwet, ketupat sayur shirataki, soto cempaka putih, sate meranggi ibu hj.ciganea, and many more.The third identification is to recognize the critical point in the product (Jaswir 2020), so in the diction of contemporary food.Like "All You Can Eat", Chinese, and Korean food are also a concern by @aishamaharani, @dianwidayanti, and @anca.id.They put a critical emphasis on: (1) the meat ingredients used are halal meat slaughtered in the Islamic way, (2) sauces, soups, and stir-fries, do not contain haram ingredients such as mirin, angciu, soy sauce (shoyu), and gochujang which contain khomr (alcohol).Diction that cannot indicate the halalness of products such as "No Pork No Lard", "0% Alcohol" which most likely uses angciu, rhum, baileys, Source: Instagram @dianwidayanti, and @anca.id,retrieved June 20, 2022.
Even in simple food or drink, there is a tipping point.For example, coffee and Fish and Chips, especially kopi which adds flavor variants namely Rum as an additional flavor.In the case of french fries, @dianwidayanti post from @linctraveller, questioned the critical point on Fish and Chips in a movie theater, it turns out that the cashier admits his product uses Beer to keep it crunchy.
All resources are set by @aishamaharani, @dianwidayanti, and @anca.idso this is an indicator of professionalism and makes it a rule.Being a devout Muslim is the most important rule for them to face modernization and commodification in the public sphere.They apply strict regulations to themselves and encourage the wider community to have a halal lifestyle, not only food and drink, but all aspects of daily life.By applying good communication, analyzing consumption behavior, including followers in discussions, it seems as if they are positioning themselves as followers who do not know and have a great desire to find out.This is the second rule for @aishamaharani, @dianwidayanti, and @anca.idas an effort to internalize the Muslim community.The rules consistently, regularly, and continuously applied by @aishamaharani, @dianwidayanti, and @anca.id.It is this repetitive routine that then becomes the key to structuring.Without this routine, they would be difficult to follow and dissolve into various social contestations.
The similarities and differences resource used by each halal influencer are not the same.Each of them uses resource based on the experience and knowledge possessed.This affects how each of them interacts with their followers.Here's the feed in the table.The above table shows that all three Influencers have a conservative value, yet liberal in terms of practice.This can be seen in his interesting and modern uploads, but still maintains value, which the MUI fatwa is the basis for his thinking.The interaction carried out @aishamaharani in the form of low complexity which is more dominant in interacting one way (Luik 2020), can be seen   Interactions on @dianwidayanti and @anca.idaccounts are in the form of Medium Complexity and High Complexity (Luik 2020), in the form of comments and replying to them, posting related content, mentioning, reposting each other and even doing quizzes and surveys.In addition to halal certificates, the two influencers differ in education of critical points and halal supply chains in food product objects.@dianwidayanti tend to restaurants, well-known brands, and hotels, @anca.idtends to MSMEs and Street Vendors.Nonetheless, both say that, it is not necessarily that those without halal certificates are haram.
In addition to their actions based on knowledgeability, they have reasons formed by dominance, signification and legitimacy.
Dominance appears in the form of new products that have emerged, Instagram algorithms, diversity and availability of halal products circulating in the form of power that regulates, restricts, gives legal consequences, and even sanctions.For example, it gives consequences for not uploading content that smells pornographic, SARA, discriminatory, or bullying.Meanwhile, signification is the meaning, understanding, and relationship obtained from the interaction of parties related to the market.For example, sorting out content that is going viral, products that are close to us but not aware of the tipping point, and approaching manufacturers, such as asking the seller about the halalness of food.Then finally, legitimacy becomes one mutually agreed value or norm such as good language, permission or approval to share information from producers, educational content, and accepting the inevitability of non-halal products, in the sense of being used as an option by other beliefs because it is a form of upholding religious values, unity and diversity.
The accounts @aishamaharani, @dianwidayanti, @anca.id,and other accounts connected to them, such as @halskin (halal skincare), @galuhachandri (halal food enthusiast), @keyvan.id(Islamic finance), @kulinermuslim.id(halal food enthusiast), @its.chelsy with its movement #AyoGantiKuas, @linctraveller (halal traveler) are media that reconstruct the culture of consumption The awareness that they do that enters at such an unintentional level is the structuration itself.This has become a habit that was previously done consciously, which then gives rise to halal sensitivity and concern in daily life as a halal lifestyle.
When those who originally only created halal content and uploaded it on Instagram, which turned out to have a change impact, they did not realize that they had become trendsetters in Muslim society, especially young people who were more often on social media which eventually gave rise to a new middle class of young people.

D. CONCLUDING REMARKS
The consumption culture of the Muslim middle class in Indonesia was formed from the influence of media such as TV and magazines that display Islamic behavior as a form of expression of piety.The rise of expressions of piety that appeared in the public sphere after the departure of the new order is believed to be the Malaysia, which uses consumerism in the NEP program to improve the living standards of the Muslim middle class, Indonesia still has complex obstacles to transition to the middle class (The World Bank 2021).Indonesia is still not sufficiently referred to as a middle-class country, because almost the entire Indonesian population is still a prospective middle class group, who have come out of the poor and vulnerable class, and still have not reached the level of the middle class (The World Bank 2021).According to the author, this dominance is based on consumptive power which causes product manufacturers to be reluctant to attach importance to halal certification.
examine how Halal Influencers internalize halal lifestyle to audiences on Instagram.The analysis carried out specifically is to examine the rules and resources in the influencer's halal accounts.The analysis becomes more interesting because Instagram users are dominated by Z generation who are interested and use the popular contemporary consumption culture as a lifestyle.
Halal influencers as structuring agents apply consistency characteristics in uploading Halal Lifestyle content.From a social point of view, Halal Influencers become Halal Lifestyle agents because they are active and critical in the midst of the contestation of consumption culture.Instagram being used as a resource has hacked into the dimensions of time and space that anyone can access.The content uploaded by Halal Influencer is packaged with an interesting contemporary style, the content contains halal knowledgeability based on the current context.Halal influencers are unable to consciously have the motives to transform the definition of Muslim consumption rules.Their actions are a long process called reflexive monitoring.They build knowledgeability about what the content will be displayed, who will see it, why and what benefits they will get by uploading a post on their Instagram feed or story.From here, the rules of halal consumption have been internalized first in halal influencers.
id are not just influencer agents on Instagram.They have resources and set rules that are different from other Influencers.Even similar influencers may not necessarily be able to bring a similar structure.They build accounts based on market interest, about how netizens are interested in the life of a Muslim who is adaptive and selective with his consumption.They are active almost every day in showing the halal lifestyle directly which is uploaded through the Instagram story feature.Choosing food on the side of the road, selectively choosing restaurants, and selectively choosing beauty tools, are all based on an understanding of halal consumption.This action becomes a resource point owned by the Influencer.They learn resources in the form of knowledge and understanding, experience, interesting and interactive content, communication, and material selection.Adam Mosseri as Head of Instagram explained that the Instagram algorithm can collect information to display content that suits users (Kompas.com2021).If someone on Instagram searches, likes, and comments on content about halal food or halal cosmetics, then Instagram will present similar content in the explore column, this is what Halal Influencers use.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Story of pork rice seller wearing hijab and Halal opinion attached to Warung Padang from the few back-interactions from followers who use more passive interactions.The content presented is also more about literacy education.Credibility in the form of the position he once held, making him have thousands of followers and the official verification mark from Instagram boosted the audience's trust in him.
Figure 4.LPPOM-MUI Story about Halal Da'wah Cadres beginning of a freedom of expression.The Muslim class, which is both a consumer and a carrier of religious values in its consumption, encourages the global market to adjust.In Indonesia, the dominance of the existing class shows that this country is still not enough to be called a middle-class country, because almost all of Indonesia's population is still a prospective middle class, where they are the group that has come out of the poor and vulnerable class.Thus, the influence of the consumerism lifestyle of the Indonesian Muslim middle class has not been able to significantly drive the market to halal consumption culture.Halal influencers as a representation of the Muslim middle class emerged and tried to encourage awareness of halal consumption in Indonesia through Instagram social media.They have challenges in the form of dominant popular consumption culture, cultural, the use of new media, to the dominance of the character of Z generation.Halal influencers are consistent with the rules and use MUI fatwas as the main resource in facing these challenges.In their development, they have a following of hundreds of thousands which is expected to form a new Muslim middle class among young Indonesians who pay attention to halal lifestyle, culture, and consumption.