A Provo resident is taking love into his own hands with a “Provo Bachelor” campaign.
Isaiah Balter spent more than $1,000 promoting himself via social media and posters as the “Provo Bachelor,” calling for women aged 20 to 30 to submit their name for a date.
Balter created a Provo Bachelor website, business cards, yard signs, banners and nearly 1,000 fliers for this endeavor.
Already, Balter said about 19 individuals have contacted him on Instagram, four from Facebook and 22 from email. Some messages are people suggesting friends and others are women directly submitting their names to be part of Provo Bachelor. Some are even men looking to be the next Provo Bachelor.
Balter is a 25-year-old LDS single adult who has already graduated and started a career. He said he just wants to “create another avenue” for finding women to date.
“I just really don’t like asking girls out on the fly, so this is away to get a large group of women to see my face,” Balter said. “It’s nice to have a reference point.”
In terms of the actual dating, Balter plans on keeping it simple. Unlike “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” franchise, Balter won’t have the women compete in group dates for his affection.
He will, however, give a rose — whether origami or real — to the girls whom he especially likes at the end of the date or at a later time. If he doesn’t see a future with the woman, then he’ll end the date with a hug, he said.
Balter believes aside from having a personal website and Facebook page marketing himself as an eligible bachelor, what he is doing isn’t far from the actual dating culture.
“People are always dating multiple people until they decide to make it exclusive,” he said. “My intention isn’t to lead girls on or date a ton of girls and kiss a ton of girls.”
Balter has received support from friends, like one who offered to put a 5-by-8 foot banner on his RV. His friend James Franklin was there from the beginning setting up the email and Instagram accounts, putting up signs and even sorting through applications.
Franklin believes this campaign will be successful, especially in light of other popular dating sites, because it has never been done before in Provo.
“I feel like it’s going to be effective,” Franklin said. “It’s a little more exciting, just because it’s newer, whereas Bumble and Tinder has been around for a couple of years now.”
Franklin said knowing the kind of person his friend Balter is, he’s not surprised Balter is “100 percent real” about Provo Bachelor. Both Balter and Franklin agree this approach is more experimental and is meant to also be humorous.
Balter isn’t sure exactly what kind of women he will be dating, but Race Davis, a BYU grad student who teaches persuasive writing, offered some insight.
“His approach is nothing if not novel: he is using a social media blitz to find dates, and I think it’s fair to call that approach unique and unconventional,” Davis said. “It stands to reason that if his approach is unique and unconventional, the type of person who might be persuaded by that is a person attracted to the unconventional or the unique.”
Franklin agrees his friend’s approach is a bit unconventional, but if anyone can do it, he can.
“We’ve seen him do other things,” Franklin said.
Balter flies stunt kites, loves origami, sews and drives a minivan. He encourages any woman interested in participating to visit The Provo Bachelor website or Facebook page.
