Thursday, September 13, 2012

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold


Today I finished watching the documentary "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" By Morgan Spurlock.

Morgan Spurlock, for those who don't know, created the movie "Supersize Me", which was a documentary that checked on how healthy is McDonalds food for consumption over time (Hint: very unhealthy)

In this documentary, Morgan looks into advertising, in general and especially in movies and TV shows. That is, hidden advertisement content and not the commercial breaks between TV shows or before movies.

As part of his research, he recruits companies to sponsor the movie, and shows exactly how things work, and how much of a common practice it is these days.

I personally loved the movie. It isn't an action movie or a plot-driven film, even though you could say it has a plot. Morgan walks you through his search of sponsors, shows you that things can be done differently (With a visit to Sao Paulo in Brasil, a city that banned street advertising completely), and does it all with great charm and humour.

Sadly, the movie did not do too well in the box office (even though it got full sponsoring by commercial companies, the revenue in the cinemas barely reached half the cost), but this is another movie which anyone who gets to watch (Today on dvd, bluray, festivals, special screenings or Internet download - preferably legal)  will enjoy and will be better informed as to the methods and volume of hidden and standard advertising.

I'll keep watching out for his movies, since I love the humour, and where else can you see a commercial for a shampoo meant both for horses and humans??


No comments: