Morgan Spurlock is famous for putting corporations to task, as he did to McDonalds in the documentary Supersize Me and in his television series, 30 days (currently available on DVD).
The Beckley, West Virginia native has shifted gears in his new documentary, going from asking the hard questions of companies to asking for a handout. The change in attitudes serves Spurlock well, as POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, which is one of the most entertaining documentaries that I have ever seen.
Morgan Spurlock’s latest documentary is a highly entertaining look at the business side of Hollywood, and the writer/producer sets his sights on the practice of product placement in television and film. Product placement is when a company pays big time bucks to get their products screen time and/or interaction with the characters on screen.
In making the documentary on product placement, Spurlock decided to USE product placement to fund all aspects of his latest work. It’s an ingenious idea that pays off big time, as Morgan takes us along for the ride while he meets with marketing companies, heads of corporations, Hollywood film makers and even the rock band OK Go (who made a wicked awesome song for the film called “The Greatest Song I Ever Heard”).
The result is POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, the first movie fully funded by sponsors paying for product placement within the movie itself, and one great documentary.
Morgan takes the cameras from the very beginning of his attempts to finance the film with cold calls to large companies like Coca Cola and (the audacity!!!) McDonalds. After many very amusing and very telling interviews, Spurlock gets his first client, and the ball really starts rolling.
There are a total of twenty companies that end up signing off on the movie sponsorship, showing a wide variety of categories. From Ban Deodorant to Mane N’ Tail (a shampoo that both you AND your horse can use!) to Hyatt hotels, Spurlock found those willing to take a chance on the filmmaker in order to get their name and product more visible to consumers.
Along the way, Spurlock speaks with a variety of people, including Ralph Nader, Brett Ratner and Peter Berg, to gather their input on product placement and advertising.
Though it must have been extremely scary to not have any say on how they would be portrayed or spoken of, it seems the company sponsorships have paid off. Morgan is currently all over the talk show and news circuit, happily wearing a suit plastered with the logos of all that sponsored him. He even helped change the name of the city of Altoona, Pennsylvania, to POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (seriously!) to get publicity.
As a movie goer I found myself very entertained with the whole process, and as a consumer, the movie really worked wonders on me with two companies in particular standing out: Amy’s Kitchen and POM Wonderful.
Amy’s Kitchen is an organic food company that offers a multitude of edible goods which Morgan happily munches on throughout the movie. Their pizza making an appearance in the film are really what sold me, and had me googling the company on my iPhone as soon as I was walking out of their theater.
I was not disappointed, as their margherita pizza tasted even better than it looked on the big screen at the Hollywood Arclight Theatre. I had never previously heard of the brand, and thanks to the company’s risk and Morgan’s ingenuity, a fan has been born.
As far as POM Wonderful goes, I have to say that I am completely and happily sold on the tasty beverage, which will be incorporated into my daily diet! Packed with antioxidants, POM Wonderful 100% pomegranate juice definitely seems to be a healthy alternative to the sugar packed orange juice and apple juice that are normally sitting around my breakfast table, and I never would have bothered to try it or learn more about it if I had not seen the movie.
The company has a pretty big part in the film, as their team agrees to fund Morgan’s documentary a sum of $1,000,000 for above the title naming rights. It’s pretty clear that the move was a shrewd one, as every single person I know who has seen the documentary has purchased and drank at least one bottle of POM Wonderful, and all have raved about it too!
Morgan’s interactions with the POM team are my favorite in the film, because though they are business people first and foremost, the POM team seems as genuinely interested in Morgan’s project as they are in pushing visibility of their product.
This documentary really breaks down the relationship of Hollywood and big business, and does it in a light-hearted and watchable way that left me neither upset with the movie industry, nor with the companies using product placement as a marketing force (except for Mac and Me, which I will never forgive McDonalds for).
Spurlock shows, as he has in previous efforts, that he can put together an informative, fun documentary that you can both enjoy as well as will make you think. I highly recommend POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold as one of the best movies of 2011.
All of us here at Positively Celebrity would like to laud Morgan Spurlock on his interesting documentary, and thank him for showing us a side of Hollywood that few ever know about, as well as for turning us on to a few great companies that we were unaware of! We can’t wait to see what the filmmaker has on tap for us next, and wish him all the success with his film!
For more information on Morgan Spurlock and POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold please visit www.MorganSpurlock.com.
For more information on Amy’s Kitchen’s delicious margherita pizza and to check out the full menu of all their products, please visit www.Amys.com, and to learn more about POM Wonderful and their full line of juice drinks, teas and more, please visit www.POMWonderful.com. Try their Pomegranate Blueberry, it’s delicious!
You can download OKGo’s track for the movie, “The Greatest Song I Ever Heard” on iTunes today! To learn more about the band, please visit http://www.okgo.net.
And as always, be sure to check back for more of the latest celebrity news and features from Richard Munassi right here at Positively Celebrity!
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