Super Size Me is probably Spurlock’s most famous documentary. It has Spurlock eating everything on the McDonald’s menu three times a day for thirty days. A lot of negative feedback was brought upon McDonald’s after the film gained popularity. However, does that negative feedback still count as publicity? Absolutely, and in Spurlock’s more recent documentary, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, this and many other themes of advertising are explored.
I have to say that I agree with pretty much everything that was in the movie. I liked how he was sort of at a disadvantage at the beginning because of his success with Super Size Me, and how companies didn’t trust him because they were afraid of the movie badmouthing their products or services. Even still, Spurlock managed to get 23 sponsors to produce the film (most of which are American-only, but there were a couple of international companies like POM and Trident). Any publicity is good publicity, people say; and this is very true when it comes to this film. No matter how negative or positive Spurlock would talk of a company, it’s still technically advertising, because it’s almost guaranteed that more people have now learned about them.
The mentality of advertising is a very tricky one. Companies will go to such great lengths to sell you their products, whether it’d be crazy commercials, or outright lying about their products! For example, POM pomegranate juice is not as healthy as people might expect. You can probably get more nutrients from just eating regular pomegranates. At this point, legal action can come into play and accuse POM of false advertising. However, companies find their way around laws to continue their dirty bidding. All of this for sugary water. Spurlock also goes in-depth with this topic and how companies overdo it in a lot of ways.
Overall, I think that this movie hit the nail on the head with how the advertising business really works nowadays. This isn’t the greatest movie I’ve ever seen, but it’s definitely one of the most accurate documentaries out there.
Khaled's Thoughts 