The Man Who Sold The World

By Fraser Denholm

IN Jon Faverau’s 2008 blockbuster Iron Man the protagonist, billionaire industrialist and arms dealer Tony Stark returns home after weeks of imprisonment by rebels in Afghanistan. Stark’s top priority upon returning to American soil after blasting his way out of an Afghan prison-cave in bespoke robot battle armour is for a “real American cheeseburger.” He later shows up to a press conference with two Burger King Whoppers, refusing to give one to the film’s villain, an against-type Jeff Bridges.

On the other side of the celluloid, beyond the box office and the cinema lobby, on high streets and next to dual carriageways, Burger King were giving away Iron Man action figures with their kids’ meals, advertising promotional tie-in websites and sending out an Adventure newsletter. Burger King aside, Iron Man had a further fourteen brand partners added to the roster, cross-pollinating the film with brands and the brands with the film.

Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock’s latest documentary, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, aims to be the “Iron Man of Documentaries.” A film about product placement and advertising - with all production costs paid for by product placement and advertising.

Spurlock, who caused serious damage to his health by eating three McDonalds meals a day for a month in his 2004 debut Super Size Me, this time puts his reputation on the line. He risks being labelled a sell-out as he takes a behind the scenes look at the world of advertising, marketing and PR while he attempts to sell off parts of his film.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold performs a double parody and investigates the issues surrounding marketing and advertising by actively selling advertising space in the manner of a magazine– something largely unheard of in a factual film.

In many ways the film works because of Morgan Spurlock’s own brand. Through his films and media presence, Spurlock has become somewhat of the “Super-Size” brand, which has subverted the original meaning of the phrase (quietly phased out by McDonalds shortly after the film’s successful release). Early scenes in The Greatest Movie…establish Spurlock’s ‘brand personality’ as “mindful, playful”, likely to attract companies with similar personalities.

Conversely it’s Spurlock’s reputation and “brand” which provides a major stumbling block in the early part of the film. He is rebuked by ad agencies and his plethora of cold calls directly to companies’ marketing divisions fail to attract any serious sponsors for the film. During his first successful pitch to Ban deodorant, Spurlock’s controversial reputation is highlighted as their “only real concern.” However, using his own amiability, charm, and down to earth genuine nature, Spurlock wins them over and goes on to attract more and more companies to the film.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is not successful in attracting the calibre of brand-integration of Iron Man, or other product-heavy blockbusters such as Sex and The City, but there is something very interesting in the nature of the brands who opt to get behind the film. The companies which actually finance the movie are, interestingly, companies with a lot in common with Spurlock himself, and the concept of the film.

POM Wonderful, who provide the million dollars in order to become the headline sponsor, are not Pepsi; Sheetz gas stations and truck stops are not Burger King. These are not huge global corporations who can just dish out massive sums of money. They are smaller companies who recognise the need to take risks with their advertising revenue in order to promote their products. Karen Frank at Ban Deodorant describes the product as a “challenger brand”, going on to draw parallels between the scale of the film and the scale of the brand.

With brand partners rolling in, the implications of their involvement become all the more apparent and with certain companies asking for final approval of the film, the filmmaker begins to worry about not being able to make the film he wants to make, a worry that his own brand is being compromised by the level of co-promotion on the table. It is here that the movie begins to look critically at the impact of co-promotion on the industry by speaking to the likes of Noam Chomsky, Ralph Nader, filmmakers: JJ Abrahms and Brett Ratner; musicians: OK GO, Matt and Kim, Big Boi from Outkast, and even Donald Trump (who, unsurprisingly, attempts to convince everyone to sell anything they can.)

Spurlock even makes the journey to Sao Paulo in Brazil, which has recently delivered a city-wide ban on outdoor advertising, forcing companies and brands to rely on word of mouth to promote their goods and services. On the other hand he visits an American high school which, in the face of education cuts, is seeking out advertising revenue to keep the school above water. Advertising space is sold around the school’s sports ground and on the inside of the school buses. We are told of 8000 US schools which give 12 minutes a day over to Channel 1 in return for free televisions in every classroom, which allows Channel 1 to charge up to $200,000 for a 30 second advertising spot to be beamed directly into the classroom.

As the movie enters its final act, it almost overtakes itself and completely changes tack as the Spurlock’s greatest coup is revealed. While the first two-thirds of the movie investigated the processes and the ethical and moral dilemmas in striking a Faustian pact with brands and advertising, this is sharply turned on its head. Those companies, products and brands which became plastered over the movie actually begin to promote and market the film itself with Spurlock’s face plastered all over their products and stores in order to sell The Greatest Movie Ever Sold itself.

The movie is, however, not overtly critical of product placement, marketing and advertising within the film industry. While the contributors and Spurlock’s ongoing concern over selling out allude to the dubious morality and ethics of working with brands and advertising, much more is made of the symbiotic relationship between advertisers and the film industry. The two cannot be mutually exclusive, a movie needs advertisers to provide revenue to make and market the film, and in turn those advertisers need the success of the movie to sell more burgers, get more people through their doors or promote their brand outside its usual circles.

Even those critical of co-promotion seem resigned to its inevitability. Quentin Tarentino laments that he was unable to obtain the brands he wanted in his films. Even high school students who are subjected to Channel 1’s premium advertising being beamed straight into their classrooms are remarkably savvy. The students, on the whole, are opposed to the idea of advertising in their classroom, but remarkably immune to its effects. It seems that advertising is so widespread and surrounds us so completely that we have all become desensitized. We see it in our streets, on taxis, in the magazines we read, TV and films we watch but it is not until it is stripped away, as in Sao Paulo that we actually realise how widespread it is.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is a highly entertaining, extremely informative documentary. A far superior film to his breakthrough, Super-Size Me, Spurlock acts as our guide into the previously clandestine world of boardroom deals, advertising psychology and co-promotion. While Super-Size Me, in many ways, reinforced what we already knew or suspected about fast food, Spurlock’s latest kicks the door wide open on a somewhat unknown aspect of the motion picture industry, and highlights how easy the process can be to manipulate. The Greatest Movie Ever Sold almost acts like a guide on how to use advertising and product placement to finance an independent film, and how the process of doing so, in considering the correct sponsors may not be tantamount to selling out.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is released in the UK on 14 October.