Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock wanted to broach the topic of product placements in movies. You know how much fun it is to spot a prominant Coca Cola billboard in the background of a movie? How about that Mustang the hero drives? Or watch the business executive take an Alka Seltzer for his upset stomach. Yes, there's more placement than we even notice, hitting us subliminally as well right in our faces from the moment the theatre goes dark. Spurlock had the brilliant idea of not only researching product placement, but getting this documentary funded by sponsors whose products would be prominantly placed throughout. Well, especially blaringly placed.
The whole process is far more complex than one might think. It's not just a matter of contacting a car company and proposing the car be seen in a film for a price. There are specialists in many different fields related to branding, advertising and product placement, and leaders in these different sub-fields offer their expertise on the subject as well as those on the opposing side of the advertising fence. Granted, Spurlock needed more help than most in finding and negotiating with potential sponsors since his would be the first documentary to be funded by commercial enterprises. And let us not forget his view in previous films has always been bitingly satirical anti-establishment. How could executives of commercial companies be assured that they would not be mocked, having their feeding hand bitten?
The answer is that Spurlock is eager to sell out. Not only does he figure that's the only way to get the true story on product placement, but the point of the film is that films do sell out to get the branding mega-dollars. It usually involves more than just showing a product on screen for a certain amount of time; it's actually more like signing a contract with Mephistopheles. And the eagerness with which Spurlock signs deal after deal is truly a tribute to compromising one's ideals. Fulfilling these contracts in novel and shocking ways is brilliant. By the time you leave the theatre, the names of the brands that funded this film will be deeply etched in your psyche.
This is a fascinating probe into a major money making side bar to filmmaking. It's funny yet educational. Surely, we all want to know how we're being manipulated when our guard is down and we're enjoying some mindless entertainment. Or is it?
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
Director: Morgan Spurlock
Writer: Morgan Spurlock and Jeremy Chilnick
Time: 86 min.
Rating: PG-13
Opening April 22 at the Century 9 in San Francisco
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