Analysis: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Decent Essays
Morgan Spurlock is a producer and a documentary film producer who is known for his ability to captivate peoples’ attention with his unusual and witty approaches to film making. In March, 2011, Spurlock gave a TED Talk on his most recently released film, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. This film became a great addition to the film industry as it began to shed light onto the branding and product placement that is most commonly used, as well as focusing on the ways marketing techniques companies become such a keystone in everyday advertising. Using a very redundant manner, Spurlock envisioned his film utilizing product-placement in order to generate the $1.5 million dollars he needed to create the film. By discussing topics such as brand personality, transparency, and national differences in advertising, Morgan Spurlock is able to create something that challenges the worlds’ view of advertising as we know it.
Spurlock’s point about the importance of personal branding can be illustrated in Aerie’s new campaign called “Aerie Real,” while the importance of product placement can be seen in
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He then began to discuss the 500 different brands and several marketing agencies that highly advised their clients not to take part in Spurlock’s unique film idea. Consequentially, this caused Spurlock to question the nature of rejection these marketing agencies were acting upon, leading him to conclude that these agencies possess a fear of transparency. Spurlock describes the biggest problem with transparency as “characterized by visibility or accessibility of information especially concerning business practices.” He begins to argue that instead of fearing transparency, brands and marketing agencies should begin to embrace it, and allow consumers to see beneath the deception, and instead, experience the true nature of the brand and its

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