Bride Has Massive Hair Wig Out

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Jodi Behan as the bride wigging out.
Jodi Behan as the bride wigging out.

"Bride Has Massive Hair Wig Out" was the name of a viral video uploaded to YouTube in early 2007. Apparently shot by one of three bridesmaids, it shows a bride so unhappy with her hairstyle on her wedding day that she starts cutting it off.

It quickly became popular and widely linked to. Viewers, and eventually the news media, began debating whether it was real or staged. Two weeks later, after the clip had been viewed 2.8 million times, it was revealed to have been part of a campaign created by marketing firm Capital C, for Unilever for its Sunsilk brand of hair care products, and removed. It featured actor/writer Ingrid Haas who was hired as the writer and bridesmaid along with Jessie Behan (who plays the most attentive bridesmaid) and John Griffith directed and videographed it. Jessie's sister Jodi starred as the bridezilla with a bad hair day.

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[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The six-minute clip begins with three bridesmaids killing time in a hotel room while awaiting Jodi, the bride, who they note is running a little late. They joke around and open a bottle of champagne. Two are seen, identified as "Jessie" and "Esther"; the camcorder operator is addressed and speaks to the other two, even toasting Jodi, but her name is never used.

Two minutes in, Jodi arrives, slams the door and falls to the floor crying "I hate my hair!" She does not like the tiny braids the stylist has put in. Jessie says only one flower needs fixing; Jodi tells her to fuck off.

The other women try to console her, urging her to take a few deep breaths, and offer her champagne. She appears to have calmed down. They urge her to start getting her dress on and focus on the upcoming ceremony. She goes into the bathroom saying, "Oh you guys look great ... that's great." However, once she sees herself in the mirror she returns to her disappointment with her hair. The camera pans briefly to a smiling Esther. Jodi comes out and notes that only an hour and five minutes remain till the wedding. "It's not that bad, it's not that bad",Ingrid tells her. "It looks like Shirley Temple or something".

She isn't convinced. She asks that the camera be turned off, and after a skip it resumes with Jessie offering Jodi some champagne. "Kevin's gonna love you no matter how you look", she says. Jodi starts taking the flowers out. "I'm not getting married like this ... I don't look like a bride". Finally, she has some of the champagne. Jessie, apparently her older sister, points out to her that she's getting married first and should be happy about that.

Jodi is determined. "We're not keeping it this way, we're not keeping it this way", she says, and again asks that the camera be turned off. When it resumes, she is taking the scissors to her hair, as Jessie and Esther ask what she's doing and scream in horror. "It's OK ... I wanted to have shorter hair anyway, for a while" says a calmer Jodi. However, she breaks down again as she asks them to just go away. "I don't know what to do", sobs Jessie, her hands before her face. Esther, outside, still seems terribly amused as Jessie asks the camerawoman for more champagne.

After another cut, Jessie has the scissors and is trying to help her sister. It hasn't worked ... now Jodi is complaining she looks like a boy as she falls to her knees. As the camera pans down, many of the braids are visible on the floor. "I can't get married like this; I'm so embarrassed" Jodi says. "It looks wicked!" Jessie responds. Outside, Esther is still smiling faintly as she sips more champagne.

Jodi looks at herself in the mirror. "Why did I cut my hair, why did you let me cut my hair?" she laments, now sobbing again. Outside, Esther thinks it's funny that some of her hair's in the toilet as she closes the door slightly so that Jodi is only visible through a small gap, which the camera zooms through. Closing it, a flustered Jessie says "Everyone, we're working with this now, we're working with this now". Despite Jodi's clear trauma, she and Esther still share a giggle.

There is another cut, and then the camera is once again in the bathroom as Jessie is trying to cut more of Jodi's braids off. The three bridesmaids tell her her hair looks good now and that she should focus on Kevin and the imminent ceremony. "You're gonna look back on this and laugh one day", the voice behind the camera says. Jodi responds by screaming "I HATE MY HAIR!!" and continuing in this vein even as Jessie tries to reassure her again. Finally she sees the camera again and screams at the woman behind it to turn it off. It ends with her face filling the screen as she lunges toward it.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Cast

  • Jodi (Jodi Behan), a bride-to-be extremely unhappy with her hairstyle
  • Jessie (Jessie Behan), her older sister and the most helpful bridesmaid of the three.
  • Esther (Esther Orosz), another bridesmaid who mostly stands aside trying to keep a straight face and drinking champagne.
  • The camera operato/ bridesmaid (Ingrid Haas), never seen.

[edit] Production

Toronto advertising agency Capital C hired John Griffith, a director with production company, Burnout, to direct their video.[1] He saw Haas and Jessie Behan in a play and liked their acting enough to give them the roles. Jodi Behan and Orosz were brought in later.[2]

It was later filmed at the Four Points by Sheraton in a single take. Jodi got the starring role because she was the only one of the four willing to cut off her own hair. It was uploaded shortly afterwards. The four were signed to a confidentiality agreement and could not reveal their roles in the video.[2]

[edit] Reception

The clip was uploaded to YouTube by "wigoutgirl" on January 18, 2007. It almost immediately received many favorites and views. Soon it was among the featured videos on the site's main page. Eventually it would be viewed almost 2.8 million times[3] (some sources claim as many as 12 million[4]).

Griffith estimated that the first two million viewers watched because they thought it was real and the second two million wanted to see if it was a fake. "It didn't matter to us whether people believed it or didn't believe it - just as long as they were watching it, sharing it with their friends and talking about it," he says.[5]

[edit] Debate on authenticity

Some commenters suspected the clip was fake, noting that the camera operator never stops and helps out and that Jodi's hair seemed to be a wig, even though Behan actually did cut her own hair. Others felt it was authentic because Jodi's button-down shirt was consistent with what a bride would wear after having her hair done so as to avoid ruining the style by taking a top off over the hair.

Canadian media were particularly interested since the clip was believed to have originated in that country. The Toronto Star even got legendary film director Norman Jewison to review the clip. He was suspicious, believing the hair to be a wig, but admitted he couldn't say for sure and that if it was, the woman playing the bride had a future in acting.[6]

[edit] Other responses

Some YouTubers recorded responses, either urging Jodi to calm down or expressing sympathy for her, since one of her worst moments had just been broadcast for the entire world to see by someone she should have considered a friend. Others parodied the video, usually showing men in a similar situation.

[edit] Origins revealed

As the month ended, Toronto-area gossip columns and websites began receiving tips that "Jodi" was local actress Jodi Behan.[7] The next day Behan, her sister Jessie and another actress, Esther Orosz, revealed themselves as the characters and admitted it was all staged in a round of media appearances in both the U.S. and Canada (when the quartet appeared on Good Morning America, Jodi had a paper bag over her face until it was unveiled). They hoped it would help their acting careers.[3]

Along with them was Haas, who explained that the whole film had been shot to promote Unilever's Sunsilk brand of hair care products. Originally several more had been planned, but the success of the first one had led the company to move right into an ad campaign that would play on the phrase "wig out" and offer solutions, its executives said.[8] Later, industry observers questioned the effectiveness of the campaign in promoting the Sunsilk brand because it received little attention compared to the video.[4]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ February 4, 2007; YouTube's Bride Wig Out revealed as 'net seed' for ad campaign; CBC; retrieved February 25, 2007.
  2. ^ a b Gandhi, Unnati and Patch, Nick; Feburary 4, 2007; "Canadian hair farce a big hit on YouTube"; The Globe and Mail; retrieved Feburary 5, 2007.
  3. ^ a b Staff; February 2, 2007; "Actresses hope for career boost from YouTube clip"; CTV.ca; retrieved February 3, 2007.
  4. ^ a b Neff, Jack; February 12, 2007; "Unilever, P&G Battle Hits YouTube"; Advertising Age; retrieved February 13, 2007.
  5. ^ Goodman, Lee-Anne; February 4, 2007; "Minds behind YouTube wigout video say 'Net seeds' the way of advertising future"; Canadian Press; retrived from canada.com February 5, 2007.
  6. ^ Howell, Peter; January 31, 2007; "Is wiggy Bridezilla for real?"; Toronto Star; retrieved February 3, 2007.
  7. ^ January 31, 2007; Famous YouTube Bridezilla Revealed; retrieved from thetorontoist.com February 3, 2007.
  8. ^ McArthur, Keith; February 3, 2007; "Unilever cleans up with hoax bad-hair video"; The Globe and Mail; retrieved February 3, 2007.

[edit] External links

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