Selling Out or Buying In?

In the trailer for Morgan Spurlock’s new movie, he asks an expert, “Where should I go where there is no adverting?” The man’s answer: “To sleep.” A poignant moment, it displays a truth of our society today: advertising is everywhere, and it is unavoidable, even in movies. This is the basis for the award-winning filmmaker’s new documentary, “Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.” While it is not as stomach-churning as Spurlock’s previous hit “Supersize Me,” it is nonetheless just as intriguing. He explores the world of product placement, marketing, and advertising, while attempting to find brands who will finance the movie. Cameras follow Spurlock as he meets with executives of different brands, trying to get them to finance his project.

In short, this is a movie about making a movie. It is financed entirely through product placement. As Spurlock describes, the goal for the movie is transparency, an attempt to show movie watchers all the work that goes behind subtly manipulating them with carefully placed products and brand logos. As the title of the film suggests, Spurlock is indeed successful in his conquest to find companies to sponsor his work, including Pom Wonderful, Old Navy, Petland, Jet Blue, and Hyatt. Spurlock showed this off when he arrived at his movie premiere with a suit with all of the different logos patched onto it. 

“Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” is an innovative look at one of the little-considered aspects of advertising today: product placement and other subtle forms of exposure that are intended to unconsciously influence the mind of the customer. As usual, Spurlock uses humor and satire to get his point across. While the movie has not yet come out (it comes to theaters on April 22), I think that one of the main things that viewers should get from it is that advertising is everywhere and that we should constantly be aware of it all around us, in many different forms.

Is product placement a bad thing? One could argue that directors sell out when they allow companies to influence work that should be artistic. On the other hand, one could argue that product placement is harmless and allows movie makers to raise much-needed money, which allows them to make movies even better. While there are many arguments for both sides of the issue, I find the debate to be irrelevant. Whether we like it or not, the fact is that product placement has been around for a while and doesn’t show any signs of disappearing any time soon. I think the importance of Spurlock bringing light to this issue is that we can not keep ourselves from being manipulated unless we are aware that we are being manipulated. Ok, so a can of Diet Coke next to Carrie Bradshaw while she types on her laptop making us thirsty all of a sudden isn’t the end of the world. But what about the more important stuff? Just because moviemakers sell out, doesn’t mean we have to buy in.

To find out more about the movie and if it's coming to a theatre near you, visit: "Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold"