Some of the hardest tickets to get may not be out of reach — if you’re single and OK with sitting next to a complete stranger with romantic intentions.
With the Bruins in the midst of a Stanley Cup run, the Red Sox back to their winning ways and popular bands stepping on to the city’s stages, there has been an abundance of online ads offering up a free ticket if you’re good looking enough.
The ads, many of which are on Craigslist, offer up a ticket and a brief physical description of the person (most often a man) you’d be going with. The ads also request a picture or a description of yourself.
“It’s kind of creative,” said Jennifer Gibbs, an associate professor of communication at Rutgers, who has studied online dating.
Gibbs said that the method is a way people can online date and meet others without going through the process of setting up and paying for an online profile through a mainstream dating site.
It can also be a way of deflecting rejection when taking such a risk.
“Offering tickets rather than offering up yourself would lessen the rejection. It’s easy not to take it personally. They’re not rejecting you, they’re rejecting the tickets,” she said.
Some dating coaches see the ads as a bad move.
Adam LoDolce, a dating coach from Boston, said he wouldn’t recommend the method to his clients for many reasons, including expense and there being no way to easily escape.
“You are totally stuck,” said LoDolce. “In most other dates, if the evening isn’t going well, you can simply make an excuse to bail. However, if you are going to a sporting event, you are generally committed to staying the entire time. Who wants that type of a commitment with a first-time meet up with an online date?”
Perfect sell
Adam LoDolce, a dating coach from Boston and founder of www.ultimatesocialfreedom.com, offered some tips for crafting an ad.
» “Use a picture of yourself at a similar event to show that you are passionate.”
» “Include in the ad that you originally had a friend going with you to the event, but he/she (whichever is the opposite sex to you) just told you about a conflict.”
» “Request a picture, and I would at the very least want to speak with them before the event.”
