Will you?

http://youtu.be/WEoDj7MLq9w

This Zales jewelry ad is a good example of the romantic in action. The advertisement starts with a guy throwing a ball of yarn out of an apartment window. Drawn in because of curiousity (what is he doing with a ball of yarn?) the viewer follows him out of the front door and into the street. A soft, accoustic song accompanies the advertisement. He then climbs up a ladder and onto a roof, the string is pulled and then you realize he tied the string to his girlfriends finger. She wakes up and goes to the window, a sign reading "will you?" is on the window. The romantic uses closure to connect the "will you?" card to an engagement. The song in the background is more audible at this point and you can hear "don't forget me" as he slides the ring across the string between them.

The romantic uses reasons of feelings or emotions over reason or fact. A romantic loves this ad because it is a creative, original way of asking someone to marry you. Which is a cultural construction that has a typically joyous, personal, and romantic feeling associated with it. Because culture is inside of us, we have seen numerous ways someone can propose. With the original ones always being seen as the most romantic. Like the ring in the wine glass for example. This is why we ignore the fact that the guy would have probably woken the girl tying the rope to her finger. Or that the tiny ball of yarn seen falling out of the window could actually go all the way across the street and up a building. And that the building across the street has roof access for just some random guy. Also, that the woman would enjoy being asked in such an original way. Perhaps he is jobless and has way too much time on his hands. Nope. He's the most romantic guy ever, his lady is thrilled and "love rocks."

Because the act of proposing to someone with a diamond ring is a Western concept, it certainly advances that ideological and political standing. Without the perpetuation of that particular custom an engagement ring store would be in trouble. In an ideological situation similar to places in the Middle East, where marriages are arranged, stores like Zale's simply don't exist.