Topic: Morgan Spurlock

Fit Features: 5 New Movies That Tackle Health (Not Comic Books)

This may shock you, but there are films coming out right now other than The Avengers and Battleship. A handful of this weekend’s new releases—Hysteria, Virginia, Mansome—might even be described as “health related,” though that covers a broad spectrum of health topics (including: male body image, pregnancy, schizophrenia and the mental health possibilities of vibrators). Here’s our quick guide to new health-related movies—we promise, nothing based on comic books or video games (just pregnancy manuals and bizarre history). More »

Join Morgan Spurlock For Food Day

Food Day is on October 24, and it’ll be the first time it’s been celebrated since its short two-year existence back in the 1970s. It was originally invented by the Center for Science in the Public Interest as a grassroots movement to improve our food system and promote healthier eating. They stopped running it in 1976 because they ran out of funding and momentum to keep the project going, but they’re back with new support from companies like Veria and big names like Morgan Spurlock. More »

Absolut Sell-out: Next James Bond Movie Set to Brainwash Fans With Advertising

Before filming of the new James Bond film can even get underway, its product placement sponsorship deals have already been secured for a whopping $45 million. That far surpasses the record held by Minority Report, where Steven Spielberg secured funding from Lexus, Bulgari, and American Express for $2o million. Oh my lovely Mr Bond, how could you? Shall we rename your shaken-not-stirred martini as an “Absolut Sell-out?” More »

Exclusive Interview: Morgan Spurlock Says Advertising Is Brainwashing

Observing that all big Hollywood movies rely on product placements to generate mass awareness, director Morgan Spurlock set his sights on the advertising world for his new project, a doc-buster built on branding called POM Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Spurlock, you may recall, has already brought us the closest thing to a doc-buster in Super Size Me, in which he gorged on the McDonald’s menu, prodding the company into changing it. Now, he buys into marketing mania to tease out the myriad methods by which products are woven into the fabric of corporate entertainment. Playing the game, but rigging it too, Spurlock uses his new doc-buster to expose the forces we’re up against in reclaiming ad-free cultural and urban spaces.

Appearing in Toronto last night at the Hot Docs festival premiere of the film, Spurlock took exactly four minutes (that’s all the time I was given with him) to talk to me about Sao Paolo, McDonald’s and why him and I are on the same page (but that goes without saying).
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POM The Greatest Movie Ever Sold: This Is Your Brain On Ads

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, whose previous documentaries include a McDonald’s smack down and Osama Bin Laden bounty hunt, now explores the world of product placement, marketing, and advertising in POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, a film that was fully financed through product placement by various brands, all of which are integrated transparently into the film. The documentary seeks to unmask the marketing process which ultimately informs our everyday entertainment decisions. Humorously told with tongue firmly in cheek, Spurlock uncovers closely-guarded secrets in the movie advertising industry that are not only shocking, but scary. More »

POM Wonderful Presents: Morgan Spurlock’s Product Placement Doc

Now that the filmmaker has recovered from eating only McDonald’s for a month, Morgan Spurlock is tackling another corporate beast: product placement. His newest movie, POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, comes out nationwide tomorrow, and is a documentary fully financed by and about product placement. Spurlock hopes the film, which screened at SXSW and comes out nationwide tomorrow, will inspire more of us to fight for better boundaries between our personal lives and corporate sponsorship. And it’s not just for the sake of rebellion; it’s something he says could make us healthier and happier, too. More »