A supermarket in the Netherlands, Jumbo, launched a “flirt hour” for singles, using popular Dutch biscuits, helping customers to score a potential date.
Dutch supermarket launches “flirt hour” with biscuits
While Tinder may be the preference of some, people are saving up time by looking for dates and grocery shopping at the same time. Inspired by a Spanish TikTok trend, in which Mercadona customers use coded language to signal their interest, Jumbo similarly launched “flirt hour” from 6pm until 7pm.
In Mercadona, instead of complementing a person who caught your attention, customers place a pineapple upside down in their trolleys, signalling to others that they´re single and ready to mingle. In Jumbo, a similar code has been popularised, as singles place the Dutch biscuits, “beschuits,” upside down in their trollies, inviting a potential partner for a date and dessert.
Since when is there “flirt hour” at supermarkets?
As Mercadona´s pineapple trend has beewn taking over the internet, many users have looked into its origin, as a past contestant of the Spanish reality show, First Dates, commented back in 2017 that Mercadona has a specific time set for flirting. A popular TikTok user Vivy Lin, recently shared a video trying to find out whether it´s true and has prompted others to join in the Mercadona mingling.
Exploring hidden flirting, people became drawn to the pineapple, known to be a symbol of swingers; people in couples experimenting with non-monogamous relationships and often switching partners. Rumour has it, when a pineapple is set by someone´s front door or a porch, a swinger session takes place behind the doors.
Interestingly, as a fruit, pineapple used to represent hospitality in the 1700s, when American colonists imported pineapples from South America, as captains and ship workers used the fruit to let people know they had arrived home safely by placing it in front of their door. Today, it has become a symbol for general romantic interest.
Seeing the social media trend explode, the past First Dates contestant, cinejavi on X, commented; “They (Mercadona) have been trying to place this viral campaign for seven years.” Although Mercadona hasn´t officially admitted to be behind the trend, it is likely that the use of products in social media trends is a newly found form of marketing.
This is even more so with Jumbo; biscuits having no apparent romantic connotations to most people. With social media and digital marketing today, it seems that just about any product can attain a new meaning, making lowkey flirting easier and more playful than ever.
