''POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold'' is a 2011

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about

product placement Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of th ...

, marketing and advertising directed by

Morgan Spurlock Morgan Valentine Spurlock (born November 7, 1970) is an American documentary filmmaker, humorist, television producer, screenwriter and playwright. Spurlock's films include ''Super Size Me'' (2004), '' Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?'' (20 ...

. The premise behind the production is that the documentary itself would be entirely paid for by sponsors, thus being a form of

metafilm Metacinema, also meta-cinema, is a mode of filmmaking in which the film informs the audience that they are watching a work of fiction. Metacinema often references its own production, working against narrative conventions that aim to maintain the a ...

. The film's slogan is "He's not selling out, he's buying in."

People appearing in the film

Besides a great number of sponsoring and non-sponsoring corporate figures appearing in the film, others include: *

J. J. Abrams Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker and composer. He is best known for his works in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and produced such films as ''Regarding Henry'' (1991), '' For ...

, filmmaker *Peter Bemis of Bemis/Balkind *

Peter Berg Peter Berg (born March 11, 1964) is an American director, producer, writer, and actor. His directorial film works include the black comedy ''Very Bad Things'' (1998), the action comedy ''The Rundown'' (2003), the sports drama '' Friday Night Lig ...

, filmmaker *

Big Boi Antwan André Patton (born February 1, 1975), better known by his stage name Big Boi, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is best known for being a member of the southern hip hop duo Outkast alongside André 3000. ...

from Outkast *

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

Bob Garfield Robert Garfield (born c. 1955) is an American journalist and commentator, and the host of Bully Pulpit from Booksmart Studios. He is former co-host of '' On the Media'' from WNYC. He is also the host of ''The Genius Dialogues'' from Audible. Unti ...

, co-host on '' On the Media'' *

Sut Jhally Sut Jhally (b. 1955) is a professor of communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, whose work focuses on cultural studies, advertising, media, and consumption. He is the producer of over 40 documentaries on media literacy topics a ...

, Professor of Communication,

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

*Britt Johnson of mediaplacement *Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino of

Matt & Kim Matt and Kim (sometimes stylized MATT and KIM) are an American indie electronic duo from Brooklyn, New York City. The group formed in 2004 and consist of Matt Johnson (vocals/keyboards) and Kim Schifino (drums). The duo is known for its upbeat d ...

*Beth Jones, Ban Brand Manager at Kao Brands Company *

Gilberto Kassab Gilberto Kassab ( or ; born 12 August 1960) is a Brazilian politician and former mayor of São Paulo. His term ended in 2012. A civil engineer and economist, one of the most famous Brazilians of Syrian descent, Kassab took over from José Serra, ...

, mayor of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Jimmy Kimmel James Christian Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is the host and executive producer of ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', a late-night talk show that premiered on ABC on January 26, 2003, ...

and a "live" show of ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...

'' *Richard Kirshenbaum of Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners * Jon Bond of Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners *

Damian Kulash Damian Joseph Kulash Jr. (born October 7, 1975) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and music video director, best known for being the lead singer and guitarist of the American rock band OK Go. Early life and education Kulash was born i ...

OK Go OK Go is an American rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois, now based in Los Angeles, California. The band is composed of Damian Kulash (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Nordwind (bass guitar and vocals), Dan Konopka (drums and percussion), and ...

*Rick Kurnit, a lawyer specializing in advertising law * Michael Levine of Levine Communications Office, Inc. *

Martin Lindstrom Martin Lindstrom (Lindstrøm) is a Danish author and ''Time'' magazine Influential 100 Honoree. He has written eight books including '' Small Data: The Tiny Clues that Uncover Huge Trends'', '' Buyology - Truth and Lies About Why We Buy'', ''Bran ...

of Buyology Inc. *

Susan Linn Susan Linn is an American writer, psychologist, and ventriloquist. She is the founder of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and author of the book ''Consuming Kids''. She is a research associate at Boston Children's Hospital and a lecturer at ...

, Author of ''Consuming Kids'' *

Mark Crispin Miller Mark Crispin Miller (born 1949) is a professor of media studies at New York University. He has promoted conspiracy theories about U.S. presidential elections, the September 11 attacks and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as well as misinf ...

*Regina Monteiro, Director of Urban Planning, City of

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the Un ...

, consumer advocate *

Brett Ratner Brett Ratner (born March 28, 1969) is an American film director and producer. He directed the ''Rush Hour'' film series, ''The Family Man'', '' Red Dragon'', '' X-Men: The Last Stand'', and ''Tower Heist''. He is also a producer of several films ...

, film director and producer *

L.A. Reid Antonio Marquis "L.A." Reid (born June 7, 1956) is an American record executive, A&R representative, and record producer. He is the founder and served as co-chairman of Hitco Entertainment. He also previously served as the chairman and CEO of Ep ...

, music producer formerly of Island Def Jam Music *

Lynda Resnick Lynda Rae Resnick (born 1943) is an American billionaire businesswoman. Resnick is married to Stewart Resnick, who is her business partner, and through their holding company The Wonderful Company, they own the POM Wonderful and Fiji Water bra ...

, owner and chief executive officer of

POM Wonderful POM Wonderful, LLC is a private company which sells an eponymous brand of beverages and fruit extracts. It was founded in 2002 by the billionaire industrial agriculture couple Stewart and Lynda Rae Resnick. Through The Wonderful Company, their h ...

*Tony Seiniger of Seiniger Advertising *Stan Sheetz of Sheetz, Inc *

Ben Silverman Benjamin Noah Silverman (born August 15, 1970) is an American media executive. He is the co-CEO and chairman of the entertainment production company Propagate. From 2007–2009, Silverman served as co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universa ...

Electus Electus was a production company founded by Ben Silverman in 2009. It was financed by IAC. The company had development deals with NBC, ABC, MTV, VH1, Facebook, Yahoo!, and AOL. In 2018, IAC sold Electus to Propagate Content. History and part ...

and formerly of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

Entertainment *Brian Steinberg, TV Editor of ''

Advertising Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in mul ...

'' *

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

, screenwriter/director *

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

*Matt Tupper of

David Art Wales David Art Wales (born 6 February 1964, Sydney) is an Australian entrepreneur and artist best known for creating satirical cult figure Guru Adrian. He has been involved in collaborations with artist Keith Haring and filmmaker Morgan Spurlock. W ...

of Ministry of Culture marketing consultancy *Robert Weissman of ''

Public Citizen Public Citizen is a non-profit, progressive consumer rights advocacy group and think tank based in Washington, D.C., United States, with a branch in Austin, Texas. Lobbying efforts Public Citizen advocates before all three branches of the Unit ...

'' *Faris Yakob of kbs+p *Lindsay Zaltman of Olson Zaltman Associates

Release

The film premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

in January 2011. In the United States, the film had a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

, opening on April 22, 2011 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

, and

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. The film opened the 2011

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...

on April 28, 2011.

Music

Spurlock used Brooklyn dance-punk duo

Matt and Kim Matt and Kim (sometimes stylized MATT and KIM) are an American indie electronic duo from Brooklyn, New York City. The group formed in 2004 and consist of Matt Johnson (vocals/keyboards) and Kim Schifino (drums). The duo is known for its upbeat d ...

's music as the movie soundtrack and their song "Cameras" from the album ''

Sidewalks A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English), footpath in Australia, India, New Zealand and Ireland, or footway, is a path along the side of a street, highway, terminals. Usually constructed of concrete, pavers, brick, stone ...

'' for the opening credits. Band members Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino are also interviewed in the film. The film's theme song is called "The Greatest Song I Ever Heard" by the rock band

. The song was made available for download on 1 April 2011.

performed the song at the film's premiere and at promotions for the film. They also appeared live on ''

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the ''Late Late Show'' franchise, airing from January 3, 2005, to December 19, ...

'' performing the song. A soundtrack album was released to digital music stores on April 26, 2011, and on CD August 23, 2011.

Reception

The film received 73% positive reviews from film critics on the review aggregate website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, with an average rating of 6.3 out of 10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film received a score of 66 out of 100.

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

called the film "even more amusing than ''

Super Size Me ''Super Size Me'' is a 2004 American documentary film directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. Spurlock's film follows a 30-day period from February 1 to March 2, 2003, during which he ate only McDonald's f ...

''", pointing out that "more than once the movie shows Mr. Spurlock, armed with clever

storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, i ...

s, selling his ideas with an enthusiasm and skill that would put

Don Draper Donald Francis Draper, born Richard “Dick” Whitman, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the AMC television series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), portrayed by Jon Hamm. Up to the Season 3 finale, Draper was creative director of ficti ...

of ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fict ...

'' to shame."

References

External links