A Dating App Is Giving Away Free Gas to Convince People to Get Out of the House
A Dating App Is Giving Away Free Gas to Convince People to Get Out of the House
一款约会软件正在赠送免费汽油，以鼓励人们走出家门
While Gen Z catches a lot of flack for being single, or even antisocial, there’s a brutal economic reality underscoring why some people aren’t going out: They simply don’t have the disposable income. 尽管 Z 世代因单身甚至不善社交而饱受诟病，但一个残酷的经济现实解释了为什么有些人不愿出门：他们根本没有可支配收入。
Dating apps, already struggling to maintain user bases due to enshittification and a lack of quality matches, are contending with this affordability crisis. 约会软件因平台质量下降（enshittification）和缺乏高质量匹配而难以维持用户群，如今又不得不应对这场负担能力危机。
In a dystopian sign of the times, BLK, the app for Black singles, announced on Wednesday that it is giving away free gas in an attempt to incentivize people to go on dates. 作为这个时代反乌托邦式的缩影，专为黑人单身人士设计的约会软件 BLK 周三宣布，将通过赠送免费汽油来激励人们进行约会。
As part of the promotion, BLK is providing $500 gas gift cards to 10 people who download the app and tag three friends in the campaign post across its social channels. “Dating should not have to compete with the price of a full tank,” Amber Cooper, BLK’s head of brand, said in a statement. 作为促销活动的一部分，BLK 将向 10 名下载该应用并在社交媒体活动帖中标记三位好友的用户提供 500 美元的加油礼品卡。BLK 品牌负责人 Amber Cooper 在一份声明中表示：“约会不应该与加满一箱油的成本相竞争。”
According to AAA, gas prices hit a four-year high over the Memorial Day weekend, with the average cost of gas now $4.56, up $1.30 from the same time in 2025. The US- and Israel-led war in Iran has spiked energy prices and could also mean higher grocery bills, exacerbating the situation. 根据美国汽车协会（AAA）的数据，阵亡将士纪念日周末期间，汽油价格创下四年新高，平均油价现为 4.56 美元，比 2025 年同期上涨了 1.30 美元。由美国和以色列主导的伊朗战争推高了能源价格，这也可能意味着食品杂货账单的增加，从而加剧了这一局面。
Recent studies show the average cost of a date has increased by 12.5 percent in 2026; 86 percent of US singles have hit pause on their dating life, with 33 percent of people who make under $50,000 per year saying they’ve stopped dating altogether. A new survey conducted by BLK also found that 77.6 percent of respondents said they feel financial anxiety around dating, with only 12 percent saying they currently date as much as they want. 近期研究显示，2026 年平均约会成本上涨了 12.5%；86% 的美国单身人士暂停了约会生活，其中 33% 年收入低于 5 万美元的人表示他们已经完全停止约会。BLK 进行的一项新调查还发现，77.6% 的受访者表示在约会时感到经济焦虑，只有 12% 的人表示他们目前的约会频率达到了自己的期望。
For Gen Z, the so-called sexless generation, this has led to a rise in “soft socializing,” where instead of expensive dinners and triple-digit bar tabs at TikTok’s latest trending restaurant, young people have opted for low-key meetups that cost them very little if anything at all. 对于被称为“无性一代”的 Z 世代来说，这导致了“轻社交”的兴起。年轻人不再去 TikTok 上最新潮的餐厅享用昂贵的晚餐或支付三位数的酒吧账单，而是选择了几乎不需要花费成本的低调聚会。
Brands have taken note. Instead of the swag bags of yore, some companies are appealing to users by running promotions for the most basic daily necessities. 品牌方已经注意到了这一点。一些公司不再提供往日的礼品袋，而是通过促销最基本的日常生活必需品来吸引用户。
It’s not just dating apps, either. As part of a recent marketing blitz, the cast of the new Boots Riley film I Love Boosters—about a crew of professional shoplifters—hosted a gas giveaway offering to fill up the first 70 drivers at a Shell station in Los Angeles, where gas is already over $7 a gallon in some neighborhoods. 不仅仅是约会软件。作为近期营销攻势的一部分，讲述一群职业商店扒手故事的新片《I Love Boosters》（导演 Boots Riley）的演员们举办了一场赠油活动，为洛杉矶一家壳牌加油站的前 70 名司机加满油，而该市部分地区的油价已经超过每加仑 7 美元。
In February, seemingly trying to engineer good press about the negative impacts of online betting platforms—which have led to a rise in gambling addiction in the US, according to a 2025 study—Polymarket hosted a five-day pop-up in New York City where it gave away free groceries, including food and other provisions like Tide pods and toilet paper, to hundreds of people who stood in the cold for hours waiting to get inside. (“The Bleak Scene at Polymarket’s ‘Free Grocery Store,’” a Curbed headline read.) 今年 2 月，Polymarket 在纽约市举办了一场为期五天的快闪活动，似乎是为了针对在线博彩平台的负面影响（根据 2025 年的一项研究，这些平台导致了美国赌博成瘾率的上升）制造正面舆论。活动中，他们向数百名在寒风中排队数小时等待入场的人免费赠送了食品杂货，包括食物以及汰渍洗衣球和卫生纸等物资。（《Curbed》的一篇标题写道：“Polymarket‘免费杂货店’的凄凉景象”。）
“It’s certainly a tale of the times which one can argue are dystopian,” says Darren Martin Jr., a marketing consultant who specializes in multicultural branding. Increasingly, he says, marketing strategies “have to understand the material realities shaping society in order to connect with audiences in meaningful ways. Certainly, there are other ways but gas makes sense at this moment.” “这无疑是这个时代的写照，人们可以说这是反乌托邦式的，”专注于多元文化品牌推广的营销顾问 Darren Martin Jr. 说道。他表示，营销策略越来越“必须理解塑造社会的物质现实，才能以有意义的方式与受众建立联系。当然，还有其他方法，但在当下，汽油确实很有意义。”
Giving campaigns aren’t unique to 2026, though they do feel more pronounced right now, Martin says, noting that radio stations have long used them as a marketing tactic. Martin 指出，赠送活动并非 2026 年独有，尽管现在感觉更加明显。他提到，广播电台长期以来一直将此作为一种营销策略。
BLK’s gas giveaway is the third iteration of the app’s annual series meant to help erase financial barriers for Black daters. In 2022, BLK partnered with The Gathering Spot, a members-only club for Black professionals, and paid for dates at Black-owned businesses. The following year, BLK funded dates for singles who were financially supporting relatives at the expense of their own social lives. BLK 的赠油活动是该应用年度系列活动的第三次迭代，旨在帮助消除黑人约会者的经济障碍。2022 年，BLK 与黑人专业人士会员俱乐部 The Gathering Spot 合作，为在黑人拥有的企业进行的约会买单。次年，BLK 为那些因在经济上资助亲属而牺牲自己社交生活的单身人士提供了约会资金。
Match Group, which also owns Hinge and Tinder, launched BLK in 2017. The company has been undergoing a brand refresh across several of the apps in its portfolio and is focused on trying to boost membership while also winning over a growing base of users who have stopped paying for premium features. (Free users account for the lion’s share of daters on most major apps.) According to a recent financial disclosure, total paying members dropped 5 percent across Match Group apps in the first quarter of 2026. Match Group（旗下还拥有 Hinge 和 Tinder）于 2017 年推出了 BLK。该公司一直在对其投资组合中的多款应用进行品牌重塑，重点在于提高会员数量，同时争取那些已经停止为高级功能付费的日益增长的用户群。（在大多数主流应用中，免费用户占据了约会人群的绝大多数。）根据最近的一份财务披露，2026 年第一季度，Match Group 旗下应用的付费会员总数下降了 5%。