Badvertising
You remember Morgan Spurlock. He's the filmmaker who rose to fame with the documentary Super Size Me. Its thesis: McDonald's food is not healthy. He really tore the lid off the rumor that high amounts of refined sugar and saturated fat are good for you.
His latest, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, is yet another brave expose--this time on product placement. He'll go into how moviemakers receive consideration from companies to tout their products, as well as looking at marketing and advertising of films.
I'm on record as feeling there's not enough product placement in entertainment, too often leaving us in a generic world that I don't recognize. But even if someone believes this is a form of selling out, is it really any sort of scandal? You make your movie, and people can choose to pay for it or not--it's still a free market, the government isn't requiring anyone to see it (which was a Mr. Show sketch, I believe). If product placement and related requirements are obnoxious enough, it'll hurt a film's gross, or a TV show's ratings.
Actually, we don't need Morgan Spurlock to tell us these things. 30 Rock had an episode last season that dealt with McDonald's and product placement at the same time.
PS. Speaking of dubious tie-ins, I was walking by my local Fatburger when I noticed posters, fliers and even stand-up figures for Bob's Burgers, the new animated sitcom. It seemed as if the joint had turned into a Bob's Burgers, in fact.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:14 AM
5 Comments:
So a company's product placement doesn't hurt a TV show, but product placement for a TV show in a Fatburger hurts the restaurant.
Yes but only because its a bad TV show
The scene I remember most from "SUPERSIZE ME" is also the scene that seriously undercut Spurlock's message for me.
After hitting the drive-thru and ordering an enormous meal, he sat in his car and started shoveling in as much McDonalds as he could eat - burgers, fries, etc. - and kept going past the point where he was clearly full.
Guess what? He got sick and hurled.
See? McDonalds is bad.
Then again, if you shove enough tofu and carrot sticks in your mouth, you're gonna hurl, too, Morgan.
You fail to make your point about manipulation (one of his big criticisms of McDonalds) when you yourself are being just as manipulative.
Then again, I guess that's how you "supersize" your career as a documentarian.
Well if its worthless, no one will go see it. everyone knows McDonalds in bad for you but taste good and they chose to see his first film and McDonalds went nuts trying to counter it. So at the end of the day, it was effective in the same as ads for Big macs
The movie didn't stop anyone from eating at McDonald's because everyone already knew it was bad for you. Since then, there have been a number of people, more honest than Spurlock, who spent a month eating nothing but McDonald's and who lost weight, lowered their cholestorol and lowered their blood pressure. Spurlock was eating 5000 calories a day. You've got to try pretty hard to do that, even at McDonald's.
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