Gen Z gets blamed for being antisocial. Lazy, maybe. Shut in. The narrative is easy to swallow. But it misses the actual point. You can’t leave the house if you can’t buy gas.
BLK, the dating app for Black singles, got this. They announced Wednesday that they’re giving away free gas. Specifically, $500 in gift cards to ten people. The catch? Download the app. Tag three friends on social media. Done.
Amber Cooper, head of brand at BLK, put it bluntly:
Dating should not have to compete with the cost of a full tank.
She’s right. AAA says gas hit a four-year high during Memorial Day. We’re talking $4.56 a gallon average. Up $1.30 since 2024. The war in Iran pushed energy costs up too. That means grocery bills are spiking too. Just a nice little loop of despair.
It’s killing the romance. Studies say the average date costs 12.5% more this year. 86% of US singles hit pause. 33% of people making under $50k quit entirely. A new BLK survey found nearly 78% feel financial anxiety just thinking about asking someone out. Only 12% date as much as they want to.
For Gen Z—the “sexless generation,” as some media outlets lovingly call it—this means “soft socializing.” No expensive dinners. No bars charging triple for water. Just hanging out. Cheaply. Ideally, free.
Brands notice. The old days of swag bags and branded pens are dead. Now you appeal to survival. Basic necessities sell hope. Or at least attention.
This isn’t just dating apps. Look at the cast of I Love Boosters, that Boots Riley film about shoplifters. They hosted a gas giveaway in Los Angeles. Free fills for the first 70 drivers. Gas there is already $7 a gallon. In some places, worse.
Then there was Polymarket. The prediction market. Trying to shake the gambling addiction stigma after a 2025 study flagged their platform? They gave away free groceries in New York City. Tide pods. Toilet paper. Real essentials. Hundreds of people stood in the freezing cold for hours to get in.
A headline at Curbed called it “The Bleak Scene at Polymarker’s ‘Free Grocery Store’”
Darren Martin Jr., a marketing consultant, says this is the new reality. Marketing has to touch the material conditions of your audience. You have to see their life to speak to them.
“It’s certainly a tale of the times,” he says. “Dystopian.”
Radio stations did this forever. But right now? It feels heavier. More pronounced. The price of entry for love is literally the price of fuel.
And if you still want to buy something because you have disposable income, here are some deals. Because the algorithm demands it.
- Light Phone is adding third-party tools.
- UAE leaving OPEC.
- DoorDash offering 50% off for students.
- Best Buy, Lowe’s, Target… usual discount codes.
- Verizon, Govee… also trying.
- And yes, Chevron wants tax breaks for data center power plants.
We give away gas. We buy appliances. We wait in line. The dating pool dries up while the marketing budget flows freely into pockets of survival.
