Thanks in part to a Vancouver resident, director Morgan Spurlock was able to maintain creative control of the final cut of his latest documentary, POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.
The film explores the infiltration of product placement in the film and TV industries but, ironically, is financed entirely by product placement, with POM juice as the main sponsor.
Spurlock said yesterday that POM had originally wanted the last word on the movie before its release. Forgoing the final sign-off, POM then came to Spurlock with the idea of holding a North American sweepstakes in which he would accompany the winner to a private screening of the film, sponsored (of course) by POM.
“This movie is about making those kinds of compromises with the brands and asking if that product will help you tell the story,” Spurlock said.
Vancouver resident Margaux Joyce Wosk won the contest that brings Spurlock to Vancouver on Saturday to view the movie with her and her invited guests. The bar will serve POMtinis (of course).
“The biggest thing is you don’t realize how big a business it is,” Spurlock said. “It is a multibillion-dollar industry that is expected to double by 2014.”
Spurlock takes a pragmatic view of the commercialization of TV and film. He says popular products such as Coca-Cola have a presence in everyday life and can be necessary to tell a story.
However, he warns of the resurgence of brand power.
“We are on a very slippery slope of giving that power away,” he said of advertising agencies involved in filmmaking. “They need to let the creative people control the creative.”
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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