Tinder tells Gen Z to 'dump traditional dating', and makes the old rules look gloriously daft

We've all endured the misery of an awkward first date. The long pauses, the oversharing, the pressure of being witty and charming – all in one sitting. It's a lot. And according to Tinder, it's also a bit… old-fashioned.

Which is the whole point of 'Dump Traditional Dating', the app's new campaign made with Jellyfish (part of The Brandtech Group), built on one insight: dating hasn't evolved, but Gen Z has. So it sets out to swap the stiff etiquette, scripted romance and outdated rules of traditional courtship for something more social and relaxed.

The hero film focuses on fun. It opens with a period drama featuring all the formal manners and old-fashioned rules that feel ridiculous today. Then, in an instant, the daters are extracted from the Victorian drawing room and dropped into a modern 'Double Date': a bright arcade with mates in tow, playing games and not having a care in the world.

That's the feature the campaign is celebrating. 'Double Date' lets you pair up with a friend and match and chat with another pair of besties, so a first date turns up with the ease and energy of friendship built in, rather than the stuffy intimacy of a table for two.

"This campaign is about challenging the idea that there's only one right way to date," says Paolo Lorenzoni, VP of marketing EMEA at Tinder. "For generations, first dates have followed the same script, but Gen Z is looking for something more social, relaxed and fun. Double Date reflects that change, giving people a lower-pressure way to connect by bringing friends into the experience."

For Jellyfish creative directors Adrian Thomas and Andrew Stone, the comedy is the argument. "We didn't just want to tell Gen Z there's a new way to date," they say. "We wanted to show just how outdated some of the old rules can feel when you put them next to the way young people actually socialise today."

The campaign has been rolled out across video-on-demand, radio and a run of bespoke social content, with each execution taking a familiar dating cringe. Whether it's the historically awkward silence and forced romance or the uncomfortable first-date intimacy, it sets the old way against the shared, low-stakes fun of Tinder's double date feature.

It also launches alongside 'Double Date Island', which is Tinder's dating series hosted on TikTok. While the campaign pokes fun at old habits, this series shows the positives of bringing your friends along for the ride.

I'm not sure Gen Z is really ready to dump candlelit dinners for arcade machines. But it's a clever way of highlighting its new feature. Anyone for air hockey?