Parents are accustomed to being treated like human cash machines during prom season, spending close to $1,000 to guarantee that a high school dance doesn’t become an emotional catastrophe. A hundred bucks for tickets and hundreds more for fancy clothes. Even the corsage costs $20. And before any of that begins, your kid wants $300 for a promposal.
Wait, a what?
A promposal, an elaborate way to ask someone to the prom, is a concept that first gained Web traction in 2011 and now is an institution alongside limo rentals and after-parties. Asking someone to the prom has been tradition for as long as there have been school dances, but promposing took on new life in the digital era. Teens now plot grandiose events to gain the attention of not only their potential date but everyone else on social media, in turn generating YouTube channels, Twitter and, of course, listicles.
Students lucky enough to experience a promposal are sometimes on the receiving end of an outrageous and often complex feat of planning. One promposal that went viral involved the purchase of rapper Kanye West’s popular sneaker, the Boost. Another promposal, less expensive but much more difficult to pull off, involved Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz reading a promposal script on behalf of a teen. For the rest, it can involve expensive cosmetics, Beyonc? concert tickets or even a puppy. One thing they all have in common is parents picking up some or all of the tab.
Brands get on board
Predictably, brands have gotten in on the action, looking to further capitalize on the already expensive event. National Promposal Day, March 11, was registered this year by Men’s Wearhouse, which rents tuxedos for the occasion. A branded social media campaign about the day reached more than 2 million Facebook and Instagram users, and a promposal themed SnapChat filter, geo-fencing more than 18,000 high schools, was used almost a million times. It’s unclear how many teens ended up with dates that day, but Men’s Wearhouse is hoping it will lead to a boost in sales and rentals.