Hily Dares Daters to Drop the Act with New Anti-Fake Dating Campaign
The dating app is challenging singles to ditch performance and love the real thing
Las Vegas, July 8, 2026 – As AI makes it easier than ever to fake it, Gen Z is demanding more authenticity, and Hily is delivering with its new campaign, “Dare to Date as You Are.”
According to a Hily survey, 89% of young Americans say dating only works when people are honest and show their real selves. At the same time, 62% say online dating makes them feel like they’re not perfect enough to be liked. As a result, many daters feel pressure to polish their profiles, play roles, and hide parts of who they are. “Dare to Date as You Are” pushes back by encouraging people to show their true selves.
“Real dating is all about real people, the same way real creativity is. That’s why we decided to produce a zero-AI campaign and collaborated with three very different, truly original artists from all over the world. We gave them full freedom in interpreting our message: ‘Being real is scary and vulnerable, we get it. But please—dare to date as you are.’ Together, we are showing that faking it might make dating easier in some ways, but there are things you simply cannot fake. So take a risk and dare to date as you are. That’s what we believe in at Hily,” says Julia Kolesnyk, Head of Brand & Communications at Hily.
To stay true to this idea, Hily partnered with three creators, who each produced two videos. Through surreal and sometimes uncomfortable scenarios, they highlight the pressure to perform in dating, encouraging viewers to recognize it in themselves and accept the dare to show up as they are.
Loli Laboureau from Argentina built the entire set and its decorations from scratch with her art department, including a full-sized cardboard horse and edible jellies (one contains an actual silicone fish too). Through this work, she explores the stories we construct in our minds and the characters we adopt to fit into them, inspired by the self-aware fairy tale worlds of Shrek 2 and Far Away.
“What I hope people take away is that noticing the character you’re playing is the first step to showing up as yourself and actually meeting someone for real,” Loli says.
Videos by Shekinah Carrillo, a creator from the Philippines, capture the cringey, real dating app experience from the dater’s perspective—both on and off the apps. In her first video, instead of focusing on “the other person,” she focuses on the inner monologue that pops up when you’re overthinking while swiping.
“We all overthink our texts, change our outfits, play characters just to impress someone—I myself am guilty of it. I want people to watch these videos, relate to them and go, ‘Wait … that’s literally me—and it’s actually hilarious.’ The magic happens once you start seeing those awkward, silly, cringey online dating moments as normal reality, not experiences you hide, and truly becoming more you as you venture the online dating scene,” Shekinah says.
A costume and mask designer from Ukraine, Tanya Spasi Sohrani filmed her videos in Paris (the so-called city of love) using a VHS camera to capture raw, analog visuals, stripping away the gloss of modern dating content. She created all the looks for the videos by hand, including a mask cast from her own face.
“When dating, I’ve definitely felt that pressure to impress, to seem cooler, to be someone else. And even though the world keeps trying to normalize it, you just can’t keep that up for long. It eventually harms you. And I don’t wish that on anyone. The truth is, people don’t really care how perfect you look or what you have. What matters is being real,” Tanya says.
The “Dare to Date as You Are” campaign launched on June 5, 2026, with the final two videos set to roll out in late July, targeting Gen Z and Millennial daters in the US.
About Hily
Hily (pronounced “high-ly”) is the app to date as you are. Short for “Hey, I Like You,” Hily helps daters embrace their true selves, make genuine connections and enjoy dating without the pressure of chasing a perfect image.
Features like Icks & Click compatibility check, Discover tab and Consent Guard give daters confidence to express who they are and connect with people who get them.
Since launching in 2017, Hily has grown into one of the top 5 dating apps in US app stores, with more than 43 million downloads worldwide.