Overview

FashionAmitionist Proposal refers to a series of viral videos posted by Marissa Casey Fuchs under the Instagram handle @fashionambitonist. In a series of video posts, she followed a scavenger hunt laid out by her influencer boyfriend @gabriel.grossman that ended in a proposal. However, after a series of images that featured the schedule of posts, as well as posts by the brands involved in the proposal were made public, many speculated that the event was a marketing stunt.

Background

On June 18th, 2019, Instagram^[1] user @fashionambitonist shared a video from her boyfriend @gabriel.grossman. In the video, he explains that he is not into "traditional weddings" and inviting her on a scavenger hunt that would end in a proposal. She captioned the video "WHAT IS HAPPENING?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The post received more than 8,000 likes in two days (shown below).

Developments

Over the next 48 hours, the @fashionamitionist account shared videos via Instagram stories about the event. The Daily Mail^[2] compiled the stories into a video (shown below). Additionally, several other media outlets covered the story, including Elite Daily^[3] and People.^[4]

Marketing Stunt Accusations

The following day, a pitch deck the outlined the schedule for the scavenger hunt was posted to Imgur (shown below).^[5] These images were designed to pitch the engagement to potential sponsors, brands and collaborators, beginning with the description, "#LoveAmbitionist A one-of-a-kind proposal experiences from a one-of-a-kind female ambitionist."

The following day, The Atlantic^[6] published a report on the pitch deck and the proposal, accusing the viral videos as being part of an elaborate marketing stunt. They wrote:

But as fans waited eagerly for each new surprise, brand marketers couldn’t believe it was all going to plan. Many knew exactly how the proposal would play out, hour by hour. They knew the couple’s engagement hashtag. They knew what hotels Fuchs would be staying at, where she would eat, and when she’d post to her feed. They had seen it all before, in a pitch deck. The viral proposal appears to be a meticulously planned marketing stunt.

The report also noted that the couple had denied allegations that the proposal was fake. In one post, a friend of Fuchs explained that the deck was part of a "logistical plan."

Bryan Pedersen, an advertising executive, told the Atlantic, "Either her fiancé has been intimately involved in every single aspect of her business and influencer marketing career and knows every detail of her influencer partnerships, or she has had some input into that pitch deck."

Search Interest

External References