POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Taken aback by the omnipresence of everyday advertising, Morgan Spurlock created POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, a thought-provoking and often hilarious documentary about, and funded entirely by, product placement. The film opens with a caffeinated joyride through advertising agencies and corporate boardrooms that provides an illuminating look at the psychology of selling in America, but the movie really takes off once companies such as Hyatt and JetBlue come on board. When Spurlock realizes contract negotiations and potential sponsor pressure are pushing his film into murky ethical waters, he finds solace in finger-wagging interviews with media luminaries such as Ralph Nader and Noam Chomsky, and takes a trip to a cash-strapped Florida school to see the Faustian bargain educators strike to keep classrooms open. One of the documentary's biggest eye-openers is Spurlock's trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil, which has banned outdoor advertising since 2007. The absence of neon signs and billboards is shockingly refreshing and a counterpoint to the all-out visual assault Spurlock later wages to promote the project. Though Spurlock could have used more research and hard data to bolster his point, as with his '04 hit, Super Size Me, his genial huckster approach to exposing the promise and perils of product placement makes The Greatest Movie Ever Sold entertainingly rewarding.