Morgan Spurlock gets to have his cake and eat it, too.
And then sell it, shamelessly.
In POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, the documentarian who turned himself into a physical wreck for his debut film, the nothing-but-McDonald's-for-a-month Super Size Me, explores the billion-dollar world of product placement. You know, James Bond downing a Heineken, Tony Stark driving an Audi, and every movie star in the world Googling on iBooks.
In a move that's at once meta and masterful, Spurlock goes about exposing the branding industry by getting brand names to fund his movie. Hence, the title: Spurlock's biggest backer is POM, the pomegranate beverage in the fancy twin-globe bottles. Spurlock wears Merrell shoes, drives a Mini Cooper, extols the virtues of Ban deodorant - in all, his savvy screen treatise is sponsored by 20 companies, from Amy's Pizzas to Sheetz gas stations.
