Man roamed Utah art fair wearing cardboard board with a request — the reason will make you believe in love

At a downtown art fair in Utah, a man walked steadily through the crowd with a cardboard sign strapped to his back. It read "Just 393 More!" and featured a large QR code linking to @tiarabrustart, his wife, Tiara Brust's Instagram account. She’s an artist, and it was her birthday month, so to support her, he spent the evening speaking with strangers, asking them to follow her work. The video was posted on June 26 with the caption, "I still can’t believe he did this for me," and has since garnered over 970,000 views and more than 110,000 likes. 

As the video opened, he pledged the viewers, "We are gonna get my wife some followers. If you haven’t followed her, please follow." Then he explained, "Downtown here today, there’s like an art fair going on, so I’m hopeful that we’ll find a lot of people who like art." He moved from sidewalks to indoor halls, explaining the goal to people as he went. In one clip, he introduced himself as "a walking art gallery" and approached more people, saying, "Looking for followers for my wife. It’s her birthday this month." In another clip, he explained the QR code, saying, "Oh, just scan it and then you’re done. And then you just follow her on there." To one group of people, he said, "If you hate her art, which I feel like is gonna be really hard to hate. It's really good."

As the evening went on, he made his way through more of the crowd, stopping often to speak with groups gathered around the fair. Surrounded by people who shared an interest in art, he saw the setting as the right place to keep going. He adjusted his approach with each new person, adding a joke here or a reassurance there. Even when people said they didn’t have Instagram, he nodded and kept walking. "I don’t want to impose on people, but she’s adorable and I love her and she just is the world," she said. In the end, he tracked her progress, noting she went from 640 to 647. At the end, he gave a final update, "Alright, guys, it was a successful night. We've got my wife, probably forty followers or so. But if you give her a follow, that’s 41. Please, please." 

And people listened. In an update, his wife shared that she got 40,000 followers, which is now over 46,000 and counting. The gesture may have seemed small, but research suggests acts like this can have a lasting effect. A study among Dutch couples found that when one partner noticed the other’s selfless actions, they experienced greater gratitude and respect, which in turn increased relationship satisfaction.

People online had no trouble seeing what kind of effort this was. Their reactions came quickly, and with no shortage of warmth. @bekitobiassonartist wrote, "There is ZERO possibility you could ever doubt that that man loves you!!" @cactuscloudsart said, "This is a DELIGHT! Wholesome! True love! The standard by which we all must now live." @allofthis_istemporary commented, "I am DYING at his scurrying across the street. What a beautiful green flag of a human." @mfern4516 added, "That is what a husband and boyfriend should do, anything for their significant other. Love!!!" @yungshypapi wrote, "Did this man just get you 10k followers overnight? RUB HIS FEET AND CHERISH HIM."

You can follow Tiara Brust (@tiarabrustart) on Instagram for more art content.