The Brief:

Promposal, the combination of the words prom and proposal is a term that characterizes a way of asking someone to prom that often involves a grand public gesture. 

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DEEP DIVE

As high school prom nights draw near, teenagers are asking each other to the dance. In a process that is known as a “promposal,” someone proposes that their friend, classmate, crush, or significant other go to prom with them. Promposals are often public and may involve balloons, flowers, serenades, flash mobs, and/or posters with bad puns.

For some, these romantic gestures serve as a way to make a potential date feel special, and to encourage them to say yes to the proposal. In the age of social media, these proposals go beyond the event themselves as they are often posted and shared with hundreds more people after the fact. In this way, such showmanship can be as much about making a grand gesture as it is about getting likes, gaining followers, and going viral.

Posts showcasing promposals, can be found across social media: on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and more. These public displays can potentially increase FOMO for those who can’t attend prom or find a date to accompany them.

Celebrity Promposals

Some high schoolers shoot for the stars when it comes to promposals, asking their celebrity crush to be their date. Although most celebrity promposals are unsuccessful, some prominent stars have gone to prom with their fans. Through the short-lived MTV show Once Upon A Prom, both Rihanna and Taylor Swift went to prom with fans. Other celebrities including Kylie Jenner have gone attended proms with fans. Every year, teenagers take to social media to ask celebrities to proms in posts that they hope will go viral enough to get their attention.

This boy was unsuccessful in getting a celebrity date to prom but did go viral in the process of trying.

Viral Promposals 2019

Here are a few examples of creative and sweet promposals from this year that have been posted to social media.

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#promposal 💕💜🥵

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