POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is a 2011 documentary film about product placement, marketing and advertising directed by Morgan Spurlock. The premise behind the production is that the documentary itself would be entirely paid for by sponsors, thus being a form of metacinema. The film's slogan is "He's not selling out, he's buying in."
Contents
Premise
The documentary consists of Spurlock seeking various sponsors for the film, and sharing insights gained in his attempts to secure financing through such efforts. It also highlights a number of sales presentations devised by Spurlock to entice various brands into sponsoring the film. The ultimate goal was for the documentary to be entirely paid for or otherwise furnished by sponsors. It is thus a non-fiction form of metacinema in which his documented efforts of financing the film became the film itself.
People appearing in the film
Besides a great number of sponsoring and non-sponsoring corporate figures appearing in the film, others include:
Release
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011. In the United States, the film had a limited release, opening on April 22, 2011 in
New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington D.C., Boston, Philadelphia, San Diego, Phoenix, and Austin, Texas. The film opened the 2011 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival on April 28, 2011.
Sponsors
Spurlock signed non-disparagement clauses with most of the companies showcased in his film but retained final cut. POM Wonderful agreed to pay one million dollars for above-the-title billing ("POM Wonderful Presents"), though the full amount was contingent on the film grossing $10 million at the box office, selling a half-million downloads and DVDs, and generating 600 million media impressions. As of 26 August 2011, the film had an estimated gross of approximately US$638,476.
Mane 'n Tail is featured prominently in the film, but the film's end titles disclose that they did not pay for the promotion. Instead, Mane 'n Tail provided free products to be used in the production of the film. Many other brands only provided products or contributed to the promotion of the movie.
For 60 days, beginning April 27, 2011, the city of Altoona, Pennsylvania (home of Sheetz, one of the movie's major sponsors) ceremonially changed its name to "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Pennsylvania" to help Spurlock promote the film, and received $25,000 for doing so.
Other sponsors include:
Music
Spurlock used Brooklyn dance-punk duo Matt and Kim's music as the movie soundtrack and their song "Cameras" from the album Sidewalks for the opening credits. Band members Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino are also interviewed in the film.
The film's theme song is called "The Greatest Song I Ever Heard" by the rock band OK Go. The song was made available for download on 1 April 2011. OK Go performed the song at the film's premiere and at promotions for the film. They also appeared live on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson performing the song.
A soundtrack album was released to digital music stores on April 26, 2011, and on CD August 23, 2011.
Reception
The film received 72% positive reviews from film critics on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 6.20 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads, "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold plays smartly to Spurlock's strengths, and the result is a breezy, albeit not particularly enlightening documentary." On Metacritic, the film received a score of 66 out of 100.
Stephen Holden called the film "even more amusing than Super Size Me", pointing out that "more than once the movie shows Mr. Spurlock, armed with clever storyboards, selling his ideas with an enthusiasm and skill that would put Don Draper of Mad Men to shame."