Morgan Spurlock is back with a film about, and COMPLETELY funded and financed by product placement!
He describes his new film, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, as "the mother of all product placement movies".
He came up with the idea three years ago when watching TV series and found the heroine blatantly plugging Nissan's latest car model. "We're in a world where all the TV shows that I love are becoming commercials," he told BBC World Service.
As rules for product placement are being changed in the UK, it's an interesting view on how the process works, the transparency (or lack of) and the demands and conditions made by advertisers..
'Horse Shampoo?'
He started with 600 potential products, a long and broad-ranging list of companies he hoped would jump at the opportunity to feature in the movie.
He approached airlines, car makers, hotels, drink companies, clothing labels and even a manufacturer of horse shampoo, with a success rate of 2.5%..
After the proposal to be a leading sponsor was rejected by Coke, Sprite and Pepsi, Spurlock found a keen collaborator in POM Wonderful, the less well-known manufacturer of pomegranate juice.
POM Wonderful committed $1m to the film, $600,000 was paid up front and the rest is dependent on the success of the movie at box offices worldwide.
The juice company bought the "above the title" naming rights which means the movie's official title is "POM Wonderful presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold"
'Don't mention Germany'
Other conditions were put in place by the film's various advertising partners. Mini Cooper, for example, insisted Spurlock drive one of their cars but added that while driving or filming in a Mini he should avoid disparaging the country of Germany.
"Once outside of the car and beyond the vehicle, however, I could disparage Germany all I like," he says.
And of course everyone in the film were obliged to drink POM Wonderful all the time and in countries where POM Wonderful isn't even sold, it still managed to appear.
His film is a comment on the way in which advertising has encroached on our daily lives, following us everywhere from elevators to taxis, toilets and even schools.
"Schools are a big one in the US, they're selling advertising within school districts to make up budget gaps. It's a brand new thing and I think its an issue," he says.
The key thing for Spurlock is transparency: that we are aware when we are being subject to advertising without it creeping surreptitiously into our lives and maintaining that awareness was a crucial part of the film-making process as was the battle to retain creative control.
See the trailer here
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