AUSTIN - Morgan Spurlock was fed up with advertising.
It wasn't enough that there were more commercials than ever to break up television programs, but there were ads that cluttered the screen during the program itself. And in movies, it wasn't sufficient for characters to have a soft drink, but it had to be a specific brand that was incorporated into the dialogue.
In his latest film, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Spurlock (Super Size Me) looks at the world of media branding and marketing from a humorous and exaggerated perspective.
He tries to convince executives to place products in a film that pokes fun at the concept of product placement and those who engage in it. They could profit from it, as long as they could take a joke at the same time. But behind Spurlock's fun and games, there's a more serious subtext.
"Every day we're being sold something by somebody," Spurlock said during the recent South by Southwest Film Festival. "Everywhere you go, somebody wants you to buy this drink, that shirt, those pants, that car, whatever it is. Being aware of that from the beginning - whether it's in film or television, in an elevator, at a gas pump - is ultimately the most important thing. I think the film brings that to the surface."
Much of the film chronicles Spurlock's efforts to find sponsors willing to make promotional deals that would cover the film's production costs.
Spurlock started big, asking major companies that incorporate brand placement and promotions into films and television shows most frequently. Many didn't trust the filmmakers or otherwise became skittish about the idea.
So Spurlock began approaching smaller, niche companies that could benefit from the modest exposure or whose brand identity fit more with the film's tongue-in-cheek approach. It became a mixture of large and small, with names ranging from Ban deodorant and JetBlue airlines to Hyatt hotels and Old Navy clothing stores.
Taking the idea one step further, he even convinced California-based Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice to become a title sponsor, making the film's actual title Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.
Spurlock admits he used some trickery to avoid having the brands sign off on the finished film before it was shown to the public for the first time at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Some of the sponsors wanted to see the final cut, but Spurlock kept telling them it wasn't quite finished, in hopes they would send representatives to Sundance and see it with a festival audience to gauge the reaction. That way, they could still see it before its general release. Eleven of the brands took Spurlock up on his offer.
"The last thing I wanted was to have a bunch of people sitting around a conference table with their lawyers, all going, 'How bad do we look?'" Spurlock said. "It went incredibly well, and they were ecstatic."
As usual, Spurlock takes his idea to various extremes, with the idea that the more ridiculous a concept might be, the more attention it will grab for both sides.
For example, Sheetz is a chain of fast-food restaurants and gas stations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia that is selling commemorative cups from the film featuring Spurlock's likeness, which is a staple of movie marketing for Hollywood blockbusters and family films. For documentaries? Not so much.
Yet that way, the sponsor can draw in customers based on its appearance in the film, and Spurlock can get bigger audiences into the theater. After all, exploiting the system to his benefit is all part of the plan.
Meanwhile, Spurlock himself has toured the country promoting the film with a jacket that resembles that of a NASCAR driver, with each of his sponsors getting their predetermined exposure.
"What this film has done for me is completely ruin film and television forever," Spurlock said. "Every time you watch a movie or a TV show, you're picking out all those things, which at the same time I think is a great thing. Now you'll start to understand literally where someone is trying to sell you something.
"It's recognizing that we live in a world where this is real. The people who advertise and market in film and television should try a little better in everything they're doing. Let the creative people be creative. Don't force them to put that stuff in their programs."
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is currently playing at the Magnolia in Dallas.
TODD JORGENSON can be reached at 940-566-6871. His e-mail address is tjorgenson@dentonrc.com.
