POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is docu-filmmaker and marketing genius Morgan Spurlock’s endeavor to make a “doc-buster” about “product placement, marketing, and advertising… made possible by product placement, marketing, and advertising.” The idea for making this documentary was born after Spurlock and Jeremy Chilnick, producer/co-writer, watched a Heroes episode that contained a “less-than-subtle inclusion of the Nissan Rogue into the show‘s storyline.”

 Spurlock and Chilnick’s idea expanded into seeing how advertisements were used in studio films and the way  “they were tools that made these movies’ footprints and awareness even bigger” and helped turn them into blockbusters.” Then the big question came -- if the same promotional approach was used in a documentary, would the documentary become a blockbuster?

After meeting with branding/image consultants to define his own brand, Spurlock and crew took to the streets of New York to interview random people about how they would describe themselves as a brand. The point was to show that no matter what their so-called brand, their lives are also defined through, and quite possibly integrated with, the veil of advertising. Perhaps if we took a closer look at our life in terms of what “brand” of lifestyle our individual experiences represent, we too could find a target audience and a following if we chose to do so.

Working out of a modest New York City office and making numerous preparations, the ad-hunt for product placement dollars finally set sail with a “brand shopping” spree that involved going through a sea of endless shelves in stores and supermarkets. Making a list of hundreds if not thousands of different companies, reading through their product description, mission statements, history, and measuring all of that against the compatibility with his documentary became necessary – and that’s only the first part of the journey.

Next came cold calling, a process which inevitably carries with it more nays than anything else, especially when the Spurlock reputation from Super Size Me still looms fresh in the minds of some corporate moguls.  But Spurlock stood ground against the mighty Goliath of rejection, and in a separate interview he expressed his surprise at the number of advertisers actually interested in pursuing a promotional deal.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold takes viewers through the process of meetings, pitches, rejections and accomplishments. It shows how business people think, how filmmakers feel and react, how advertisement dollars are spent, how ads are produced, and how everyone must work together to find a compromise. But the genius of the work is not so much in the documenting of the process as in revealing the honesty of Spurlock’s self. He is engaging, entertaining, thought provoking, and contagiously fun to watch and listen to on and off screen. Watching Spurlock’s passionate and enthusiastic battle with uncertainties of the moment makes for a good narrative.

The film boasts some notable cameos, including J.J. Abrams, Bret Ratner, Quentin Tarrantino, Ralph Nader, OK Go, Antonia “L.A.” Reid, and Ben Silverman. The music by Jonathan McHugh also adds weight to the story by setting the mood and creating a dynamic undertone as well as comedic and dramatic beats within the storyline.

Overall, I liked Spurlock’s documentary because it manages to present the traditional idea of product placement in a bold, entertaining, and refreshing new way. Through trial and error, Spurlock sheds light on one of the grayest areas related to raising capital for a film, and he gives it a very broad social appeal while illustrating how the power of promotion impacts our perspectives on daily life, even though most of us don’t notice it.   

(Released by Sony Pictures Classics and rated "PG-13" for some language and sexual material.)