UCLA Proposal Rejection Video, Is Proposal Etiquette Appropriate Today?
Video footage of a UCLA proposal that went horribly wrong has gone viral, and has raised questions about appropriate proposal etiquette.
The 1 minute 40 second long video begins relatively well during UCLA's home game against Richmond.
The stadium's "mistletoe cam" randomly selects couple's from the crowd to embrace with a kiss, and most happily oblige except the last couple.
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A young woman is completely caught off guard as she slightly leans in for an embrace with her boyfriend, but instead of returning the gesture he stands up to remove a box from his back pocket.
Starry eyed and with the crowd now roaring, the man anxiously grabs the microphone.
"I knew that I was going to do this from the first moment I met you, so now is as good a time as ever," the man says before falling to one knee.
"Will you marry me?" he asks his unsuspecting girlfriend, who looks just as shocked as onlookers and appears to be lost for words.
The roaring becomes even louder, now accompanied by crowd cheers and whistles of encouragement.
As the microphone is placed before the woman, she dodges it before her smile turns to a more concerned frown.
Seconds go by and as onlookers quickly become nervous, crowd members offer their assistance with one obnoxiously yelling "YES is the answer!"
Eventually the young woman shakes her head before running out of the stadium, leaving her awkwardly embarrassed boyfriend devastated.
The video follows a growing trend in public proposals that are being posted on the social networking site YouTube.
Although many proposals have happy endings, others like the one in this instance do not, and critics are therefore asking whether proposal etiquette should be applied in the 21st century.
Tina Hayes of CuisineNoirMag.com believes so, and in a piece titled Wedding Proposal Etiquette she insists that couple's should "adhere to tradition."
Hayes suggests that marriage should always be discussed prior to the proposal, that a ring should be presented and that the event should be "intimate and private", she writes.
Although some social networking users condemned the young woman for what they say was an impolite rejection, Hayes argues that while a response should be given the man should allow for time.
Despite many traditionalists sharing Hayes' view on traditional marriage, critics argue that proposal etiquette has no place in modern society.
