You may have heard about one of the latest YouTubes making the rounds — the one about the bride who freaks out about her hair on her wedding day, and proceeds to have a meltdown resulting in her cutting her own hair.
You may have also heard about the tidal wave of publicity, once people heard that it was, in fact, staged, with actresses, a script, and a contract. In fact, it turns out all principals involved were interviewed on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and Inside Edition.
What you may not know is the story behind “Bride Wigs Out”, and how brazen and calculating some marketing firms are.
For those interested in the story behind the story head over to the Globe and Mail for all the details, including how it all started: a Toronto based actress was spotted working (waiting tables?) at a restaurant by a marketing executive.
With the rise of Lonelygirl15 and the Dove “Evolution” campaign video, it seems like the commercialization of social content has truly begun in earnest. And while it is certainly not a surprising event, one does start to wonder whether or not a new kind of media literacy is necessary.
After all, its not a too-distant future when such videos become commonplace — so commonplace, that it won’t make the news when such a video is ‘fake’, or ‘staged’.
