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Megan's avatar

Yes! I have literally been waiting for this since the minute I saw the Insta, and really appreciate the way you offer us context for influencers and how they're really just another form of advertising, with the internet allowing a divorce from the traditional celebrity machine.

A couple weeks ago they did an open Q&A and one of the questions was whether Bailey was engaged...her response was a coy "not yet", and I immediately assumed that there was something in the works, but even in my deep cynicism I didn't go to "sponsored ring".

Also have to assume that the jeweler was involved in the content, given that Bailey is actually wearing a full wedding set in all the photos. It's a very achievable and aspirational look for an outdoor, distanced wedding-and explains why everything is white, where a pink flower sitch would have played up the trendy rose gold of the ring. Interesting to consider the semiotics of this as product advertising separate from the B&B brand building; if it were just Bailey, the focus would have been purely engagement. The presence of a wedding band in the grid photos and, frankly, continuing to be worn in some stories in which the jeweler is tagged raises an eyebrow for me-because why wouldn't they try and double-down on the exposure with a wedding band reveal later on?

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Rachel Fairbank's avatar

I was raised LDS, which meant from about the age of 11 on, every lesson focused on the idea that marriage was not optional. (We were taught that our entrance to the highest level of heaven depended on marriage to a worthy LDS man in the temple, and having children.) My teenage years were a weird blend of being desperately unhappy and depressed, while also feeling bad because being LDS was supposed to make you happy. I really don't miss that culture.

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