Morgan Spurlock, the Oscar Nominated documentarian who alerted us to the evils of fast food in his expose “Super Size Me”, now wants us to be aware of the power of product placement in his new movie subtly entitled “Pom Wonderful Presents : The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” which opens in UK cinemas on October 14th.
Financed entirely by product placement, sponsorship and advertising, the film – or as Morgan calls it the world’s first ‘Docbuster’ – shows Morgan convincing companies such as Hyatt, Jet Blue, Ban deodorant and of course Pom Wonderful to part with cash to appear in his movie and then promote their exposure and association in their hotels, on their planes, in their stores, on their website and on their bottles. Morgan raised $1.5million dollars from the 22-partners, with $1million coming from Pom Wonderful alone for title sponsor.
The result is an entertaining, informative and somewhat scary look at the world of American product placement – and a place in the Guinness Book Of Records as the film with the most product placement.
Having seen the film, UK audiences may be wondering will our screens be full of the type of blatant US product placement that Morgan highlights in his documentary, with shows such as 90210 and Chuck featuring lingering shots of Dr Pepper and Subway for no narrative reason.
The answer, according to Darryl Collis, Director of Seesaw Media the UK agency that specialises in product placement is quite simply, “No!”
“That will never happen here,” Darryl reassures us. “Not only do laws on undue prominence prohibit that but most importantly the UK audience will not stand for it and will just switch over, which is something the broadcasters will avoid at all costs”.
Over the years Seesaw Media has supplied their client’s products to dress the sets of many high profile UK television shows and feature films for productions to help create reality. Darryl highlights the fact that “We live in a branded world and television and film need to reflect that. It’s only the bad placements that the audience notice and complain about. The natural organic ones just enhance their viewing.”
Mindful of UK television shows not going the way of the US, Seesaw Media have been tracking all the product placement deals that have aired on UK screens, since the law changed in February.
“There have only been a handful of deals brokered since the change in law” Darryl notes “from simple placement where a brand has been used just as set dressing like the Nestle coffee machine on ‘This Morning’ to placement and sponsorship with Treseme and Britain and Ireland’s Next Top Model to the fully integrated ad funded programming, where a brand pays for and appears in the show as per Channel 4’s ‘New Look Styles The Nation’. Some of which work better i.e. are more organic, than others.”
It looks like product placement will become more and more part of our everyday viewing experience and as such Darryl recommends audiences go and see Morgan’s movie, as not only will it give them an insight into the industry but “most importantly it will entertain you and make you think, and that’s what going to the cinema is all about”