Dating trend: Finding true love with pineapple

Pineapple instead of dating app
This is how we get to know each other offline again

The past has been wiped out: Many people are no longer interested in virtual dating via platforms such as Tinder, Bumble and Co. and instead want to meet people in real life again. These new analog dating trends are intended to help singles find their match.

The end of online dating?

In recent years, more and more dating platforms have taken over the internet with promising advertising slogans. One says, “The app is made to be deleted,” another, “Every ten minutes, a single person falls in love via…”. They all promise exactly what some desperate users want: to find the perfect match. In return, we provide them with our most intimate data – and then we diligently swipe right and left.

While some people are lucky and fall in love with the help of such an app, others just wipe their fingers raw. The result: a match graveyard, disappointment and self-doubt. Now you might think that no one is forced to sign up for Tinder or Bumble. Just go to the bar or the gym and look for love there! The only problem is that these platforms have made it more difficult to approach people in real life. Many are self-conscious, afraid of rejection and prefer to rely on the apps.

Couple and sex therapist Birgit Fehst also points out that online dating has the advantage of convenience for many people: “Dating platforms offer a supermarket of potential partners and people take advantage of them and move on to the next one if the last one isn’t so perfect.” “It was as expected,” she explains, adding, “the fact that relationships mean work is somewhat forgotten.” It’s no wonder that this doesn’t lead to a partnership for life.

Bring on the pineapple!

However, there are tricks to make the analogue dating process easier. In Spain, for example, the “Hora de Ligar” (English: mating hour) was introduced, where singles ask for their partner in the supermarket. perfect match Every day between 7 and 8 p.m., people looking to date come to the branches of the supermarket chain “Mercadona” to meet like-minded people. To signal their willingness to mate, Spaniards simply have to put an upside-down pineapple in their shopping cart. Anyone who then meets another person with the identifying feature can talk to them and – if they are interested – exchange numbers. On social media, the dating trend is celebrated as “Merca-Dating” or “Tinder-Dona”.

Not only in Spain, but also in Germany, many singles are fed up with wasting their time on dating apps. There are therefore also some offers in this country that help people get to know new acquaintances and potential partners. An Edeka branch in Hagen has specially purchased pink shopping baskets for a dating experiment. Customers who carry their groceries in these baskets send the message, “I’m single, you’re welcome to talk to me.” So not only are people diligently looking for bargains, but they might also bag the odd flirt.

Running clubs instead of Tinder

For those who find supermarket dating less appealing, there are of course alternative programs. For example, so-called running clubs have recently become a good place to go for singles. The trend, in which active people meet up to go jogging together, spread from Great Britain and the USA to Germany. It is the perfect alternative to online dating. Because instead of a bad mood in front of the smartphone screen, we get an extra dose of endorphins from exercise in the fresh air – and maybe even a partner for life.

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Brigitte