POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD

Name: POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD
Item: POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD
Author: Review

“Comical Capitalism”

Family Content: -1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

Watch:

What You Need To Know:

POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD offers a humorous look at the ways in which advertisers resort to ever more subtle tricks and gimmicks in movies. The main gimmick being mocked in this documentary by Morgan Spurlock is product placement, where movies or TV shows use or mention a famous product or brand name. The documentary follows Spurlock’s goal to raise at least $1.5 million to finance itself, by selling off the right to place products throughout the movie. For instance, Spurlock promises to use only Ban deodorant on camera if the company agrees to pay $50,000 or $100,000. Also, POM, a fruit juice company, won the right to put its name on the title.

Spurlock doesn’t seem to be attacking capitalism in THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD. Instead, he’s asking viewers – through a mix of humor and facts –to pay closer attention to the messages they receive and be more discerning about which messages they allow into their minds. THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD makes that point in clever, funny ways, but there’s brief foul language and some sensual images, so MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children.

Content:

(B, L, S, N, A, D, M) Light moral worldview in humorous documentary showing how rampant and all-consuming advertising has become in modern Western society, with average people being led into nearly every purchase through alluring mind tricks, and star/filmmaker Spurlock exposing how the process of product placement works to subconsciously affect desires and purchasing behavior; two “f” words and several light profanities; no violence; a couple of quick montage sequences feature sensual images of famous print ads with attractive models; pictures of models sitting in various states of undress or completely nude, but not actually showing any explicit nudity; no alcohol use; smoking; and, Spurlock is shown humorously making calls to ad agencies and product companies seeking meetings in which he hopes to convince corporations to advertise in this movie, with ridiculously large ad purchases intended to fund the budget.

More Detail:

POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD offers viewers a humorous and amusing look at the ways in which modern advertising has resorted to ever more subtle tricks and gimmicks in movies to promote their wares. The main gimmick being mocked in this documentary by Morgan Spurlock is product placement – in which characters in TV shows or movies – blatantly use or mention their use of a famous product or brand name. The documentary follows Spurlock’s goal is to raise at least $1.5 million to finance itself, by selling off the right to place products throughout the movie. For instance, Spurlock would only use Ban brand deodorant on-camera or only eat Amy’s brand pizza if Ban or Amy’s agreed to spend $50,000 or $100,000 on the movie. Also, POM, a fruit juice company, won the right to put its name on the documentary’s title.
Spurlock walked this route before with his Oscar-nominated documentary SUPER SIZE ME, which explored the health impacts of fast food on himself and society. Where McDonalds, Spurlock’s prime target in SUPER SIZ ME, argues that that movie took some excessive liberties in its framing of the truth, here, every company is clearly marked as either being along for joke, or against it. It’s intriguing to see which companies refused to get involved with Spurlock’s documentary and why, as much as it is fascinating and funny to see smaller companies jump at the chance to achieve recognition through the film.
Spurlock doesn’t seem to be attacking capitalism in THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD. Instead, he’s asking viewers – through a mix of humor and facts –to pay closer attention to the constant bombardment of messages they receive and to be more discerning about which messages they let into their minds.
THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD makes that point in clever, funny ways, but there’s brief foul language and some sensual images, so MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children.