The New 5 Minute Speed Dating?

Whether you live in NYC or not you have probably heard of the new law banning smoking from all public establishments - including bars. Looking beyond the politics and health issues we have noticed an evolving behavioral phenonmenum that brings a bit of silver lining to these smokers forced to line up regardless of weather conditions.

A new culture has developed. Those who go in and out of the bar for periodic smokes. This becomes a miraculous opportunity for some to chat up someone you may have not had the unfettered opportunity to approach in the confines of the bar. A new form of speed dating that comes with less pressure because it is framed in the "harmless" context of catching a 5-minute smoke. If you get shot down it was just a smoke. You are not stuck in the same immediate space. The uncomfortable walk of shame has been eliminated. It has the aura of a coven of sorts. Kids sneaking a smoke between classes. It essentially brings the "bad" back to the vice of smoking. And it offers a different context to just going to the bar. There is the bar.... and you have outside the bar. It's like the new VIP room for the common man. This is new and marketers are already trying to move in on the space with Smoking posts with ad banners. M@xPosts, an offshoot of M@xRacks has begun staking their claim to the space. We are not so sure if advertising of this type is the right path here, but the awareness of this new narrative in bar culture may have other possibilities more nuanced. We will be keeping our eyes pealed.