This US Influencer Has Come Under Fire For Pitching Her Own ‘Surprise’ Engagement To Brands For Sponsorship

A blogger in the States has come in for some heavy criticism, as it appears she planned out her own engagement to give brands a chance to sponsor her.

New Yorker Fashion and Lifestyle blogger Melissa Casey Fuchs, AKA  Fashion Ambitionist on Instagram, has been the centre of a blogger debate this week, and she set off on what appeared to be a surprise trip set up by her boyfriend so he could propose to her.

The whole premise of the extravagant engagement was that the couple weren’t ‘conventional’, and Melissa’s boyfriend Gabe enlisted her friends to send her on a ‘treasure hunt’, at the end of which he would be waiting for her on one knee.

So far, Melissa has been sent to The Hamptons, Miami and has been told to head to Paris to await her beau. Sounds romantic right?

 

View this post on Instagram

 

WHAT IS HAPPENING?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A post shared by MARISSA CASEY FUCHS (@fashionambitionist) on Jun 18, 2019 at 8:51am PDT

Well maybe a little less so, as it seems the whole thing was set up as an elaborate marketing scheme to gain followers and brand deals.

Melissa, who has gained over 20,000 followers since this all kicked off, allegedly sent a full pitch to PR companies before the ‘surprise’ trip – laying out exactly what would be happening and how often she would be updating her followers. Not just that, it also invited brands to sponsor the journey that would lead to the happiest day of her life. Odd.

One of Melissa’s friends addressed the controversy on Instagram, claiming the pitch was made by her to plan out the trip, and wasn’t meant to be seen by brands…

Advertsing exec Bryan Pedersen, who was sent the deck himself said:  “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,”

“There’s no way a friend or potential fiancé would know how to put together a pitch deck with that detail.”

 

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… STILL NO RING!!! Was completely shocked when I walked into Prime112 and Gabe’s family was NOT there and mine too!!!! ?♥️ Prime112 is Gabe’s family’s favvvorite restaurant, last time we were in Miami we ate at EVERY Prime restaurant. Instead the room was filled with my closest friends from UF #gogators!!!! @gabriel.grossman @eliciablaineevans beyond epic!!! ?: @flytographer you guys nailed these perfect shots ?

A post shared by MARISSA CASEY FUCHS (@fashionambitionist) on Jun 20, 2019 at 8:22am PDT

So far, the whole thing has gone down pretty much as planned – but it hasn’t been made clear if any brands took her up on the lucrative offer.

The USA’s advertising standards don’t require influencers to #AD on a sponsored post, so we can’t really tell. But some of her followers are more than a bit peeved at being led down the garden path.

“Everyone who thinks this is real is a total ditz. This is staged as f*ck. Good marketing strategy tho,” one commented, while another added “Why are you lying about everything? Your pitch deck is on Twitter.”

Melissa still has no ring on her finger, but might have a few more bob in her bank account by the time it all happens!