Remember the story of the viral wedding proposal?
No, not this horrifying thing…
We found it. Worst marriage proposal EVER. https://t.co/0ewFyg0ku0
— Perez Hilton (@PerezHilton) July 3, 2019
No, we’re talking about the one where an Instagram influencer named Marissa Fuchs got taken on a multi-city, international scavenger hunt by boyfriend Gabriel Grossman — ending in a proposal AND wedding ceremony in Paris.
Related: Joe Jonas And Sophie Turner’s Second Wedding In France
That one got a bit of attention… but you might know it better for what came after.
You know, when The Atlantic revealed the entire “romantic” adventure was an elaborate scheme intended to gain brand partnerships?
Multiple marketers revealed the entire proposal had been presented to them as a marketing stunt in what’s called a pitch deck.
Brands were solicited for partnerships — to be name-dropped in a series of viral videos which would be posted by Fuchs and Grossman throughout the proposal.
It was just the type of story that was sure to be an Internet sensation; it had romance, surprises, beautiful vacation destinations, and of course a blubberingly ecstatic bride shocked by the presentation of a ring.
But was even the cry face a huge hoax?
If they were pitching this whole proposal scheme together, how could any of it be real? Certainly Fuchs wouldn’t have been surprised by Grossman popping the question if she helped him reach out to brands in advance.
BTW, even the wedding wasn’t technically real. It was just for show, a non-legally binding ceremony.
Those who followed the story on social media and their favorite websites were understandably pissed at the deception.
Grossman admitted to the marketing ploy but claimed the proposal was still genuine — and that Fuchs had no idea.
Are y’all buying that?
Does it help to know Marissa Fuchs’ job? Yeah, she’s not just an Instagram influencer and fashion blogger.
She’s the director of brand partnerships and sales at Goop.
In other words, her job is to do EXACTLY what this pitch deck was doing, only normally for Gwyneth Paltrow‘s lifestyle website.
So yeah, it’s a little tough to believe Grossman was the one who put this all together with no input from the star of the production.
Unfortunately for Fuchs, if she did engineer this whole thing, it might actually cost her the ol’ day job selling vagina rocks.
Anyway, Goop isn’t happy about their good vagina-rock-selling name being attached to this whole sloppy viral mess.
Related: Gwyneth’s Goop Summit Slammed As ‘Extortion’
See, it’s not just that Marissa works there. The kickoff to the scavenger hunt began at the Goop offices. Many of her friends tagged in the video work there. Fuchs’ job at Goop was mentioned in basically every story written about this.
And yes, Goop was thrown around in the pitch deck, too.
https://giphy.com/gifs/robert-downey-jr-iron-man-tony-stark-ZhcAcAsHDuvL2
Now the company’s director of communications, Noora Raj Brown, is coming out and making it perfectly clear Goop had NOTHING to do with this.
In fact, Marissa is under an internal review for smearing Goop! Brown told Buzzfeed News:
“Marissa never received formal approval from Goop for this… We do know that she did not go through the proper channels for any such request.”
Grossman, on the other hand, told The New York Times he asked Fuchs’ boss — and she was “really on board.”
Something tells us that isn’t the story Goop would like him to be selling right now…
Whether Fuchs gets fired over the ordeal remains to be seen. For now she’s still laying low on her apparently fake honeymoon — neither has posted on social media AT ALL since the Atlantic exposé.
Now that can’t be good for her brand.
[Image via FayesVision/WENN/Marissa Fuchs/Instagram.]
Related Posts
