Bridezzzzzzzzzz .... (Snore!)

Yes, I realize the following topic is a meme, which is what this whole blog is about. However, I have to be honest with you folks ... I don't see what the fuss is about.

According to CTV News

The mini-movie called "Bride Has Massive Hair Wig Out" was viewed more than 2 million times on the YouTube website. It featured a woman going berserk on her wedding day, cutting off her hair in a fit of rage and tears just minutes before the ceremony.
The video was pulled down late Thursday night "by the user," who it now appears was in fact a Canadian hair care company.

Sunsilk Canada revealed Thursday that the video clip was not a real amateur home video but part of an advertising "initiative." ...

The four women involved in the clip say they performed in the video to promote their acting skills.

The video was the most watched over the last few days on YouTube and was mentioned and shown on a variety of high profile U.S. talk shows. As well, Toronto film director Norman Jewison has said he found the video "hilarious" and would give the actress involved a job in an instant.

I'm really sorry, but I have to give a big, resounding ... who cares? to this one.

Marketers have been doing this sort of viral advertising going back into the Web 1.0 days. I recall Ottawa's GotMarketing sending around a viral video in 2001 that involved people tossing watermelons off a building. Levis Jeans had a static Web site circa 2001 featuring a bad Middle Eastern DJ, a kind of precursor to Ali G perhaps.

I do think that this type of advertising is dishonest, and I think that it is prone to backfiring. But, what do I care? I don't buy women's shampoo. I'm not part of the target audience, I guess.

Interesting, this was also addressed in said article:

"You get it out there and everyone gets really quite excited -- is it real or is it not? I think a lot of people have been questioning about that one, the 'Bridezilla wigout,' if it is real or not? And it just creates a certain hype."

My jaw just went slack reading that. I don't think that's the issue at all.

Here's my take:

People, and probably women most of all, somehow related to this nightmare of something going wrong on a big important day. Probably the most important day of a woman's life, perhaps. This video played into that fear, like a good horror movie, and obviously punched the internal fear button for a lot of women.

That's why it got two million views on YouTube. I don't think anyone cares about the whole "was it live or was it Memorex?" argument. I think there's deeper cultural things going on with this meme.

It is about the user and how they use the medium. And as I'm not particularly interested in using this video, perhaps, I just don't care / get it / whatever.

However, to take things a bit further, part of me feels that this is just another attempt by the mainstream media to discredit Web 2.0. I think the real story behind the story on this one is that CTV and all of these other media outlets can play into another type of fear: the fear that information is not creditable on the Web.

If so, all I have to say in return is ... (yawn! snooze!). Tell me another one.

The dichotomy between old and new media is disappearing pretty quickly, methinks. Which is maybe what this story is proving. And, if so, maybe that's the really interesting thing about Bridezilla.

Come to think of it, maybe I'm interested in this meme / story after all.

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Bridezzzzzzzzzz .... (Snore!)

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