Morgan Spurlock on the perils of making a movie about product placement

His spin-off television series saw him spend a month in jail, live on minimum wage and toil in a coal mine in his hometown in West Virginia, while 2008 film, Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden? took Spurlock in search of the world’s most wanted man.

His latest feature-length documentary, however, sees Spurlock attempt a re-invention of Lazarus proportions: to become the darling of corporate marketing. The film project, funded entirely by product placement, is brazenly titled: “POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold”.

The idea was born three years ago when Spurlock sat down to watch his favourite TV show, Heroes, and found one of the main characters blatantly plugging Nissan’s latest car model. “Here was Hayden Panettiere being given a car by her dad and exclaiming: ‘The Rogue? The Nissan Rogue? Oh my gosh Dad, I can’t believe you got the Rogue,’” he says. “I was sitting there thinking: ‘Wow, I just watched a commercial in the middle of my favourite show. What just happened?’”

So a plan was hatched: Spurlock would make a movie, the premise of which would be to document his own efforts in raising the film’s $1.5 million budget by selling it piecemeal to willing sponsors.

The objective was to shine a spotlight on the multi-billion dollar industry of product placement in film and television, a clever marketing method whose use – and abuse – says Spurlock is omnipresent, subtly controlling our way of life.

It’s been two decades since Mike Myers made a tongue-in-cheek dig at the issue in Wayne’s World. “Contract or no, I will not bow to any sponsor,” deadpanned Wayne as he opened a Pizza Hut box on his public access cable show. Wayne then condemned “selling out” while eating Doritos, taking Nuprin for a sudden headache and praising “the choice of a new generation” while holding up a Pepsi can.

When it comes to the product placement Hall of Shame, the list is as long as it is blatant. Think Sandra Bullock’s Taco Bell references in Demolition Man; Adam Sandler’s plugs for Subway in Happy Gilmore; You’ve Got Mail and AOL; Reese peanut butter in ET; FedEx and Wilson volleyballs in Cast Away; Will Smith saying: “Converse, vintage 2004” shoes in I, Robot. Blockbuster Iron Man 2 racked up an incredible 64 brands including Audi, Dom Perignon and Dr Pepper.

Given his “super size me” reputation, unsurprisingly the majority of the marketing and advertising agencies Spurlock approached were dubious about his intentions. “Who knows, maybe by the time your film comes out we look like a bunch of blithering idiots,” says one.

Countless doors slammed shut in his face before leftfield New York agency Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners agreed to help, pinning down his “brand personality” as “mindful/playful” – the same category as Apple, Mini, Nintendo Wii and US low-cost airline JetBlue.

Drawing up a broad-ranging list of more than 650 potential products, with applaudable determination Spurlock started to contact airlines, car manufacturers, hotels, drink companies and clothing labels. “There’s nothing like cold calling to remind you how little power you have,” he muses.

Among those to turn him down were Starbucks, Johnson & Johnson, Volks-wagen, Red Bull, Ford and Nike. Some were crueller than others. “I’m the head of public relations for Guess,” said one representative. “We would never put Morgan, your average Joe, on a billboard.” Ouch.

“Making this movie required thick skin,” says Spurlock, laughing. “When I called Abercrombie and Fitch the woman on the phone said: ‘Do you really want me to tell you why you’re not Abercrombie material?’ She started listing it all: ‘You’re out of shape, you’re pale, you’re almost fat, you are very unattractive. I don’t mean unattractive in a normal way, you are actually kind of funny looking. You are going bald. You have a moustache ...’”

Another brand he approached was McDonald’s – did Spurlock seriously think he had a shot there? “Well, you can’t make a doc-buster film without having a Happy Meal,” he quips. “I wanted to get a collector cup for the film. I called [McDonald’s] and left message after message. I said: ‘Hey, it’s Morgan Spurlock. Give me a call back. I promise it will be different this time.’ I never heard from them. Burger King never called back. Taco Bell did call back and said they wanted nothing to do with the movie. Kentucky Fried Chicken said no. Literally every fast food outlet in America said no.”

Undeterred, Spurlock pushed on, eventually racking up an eclectic list of 22 sponsors including Ban deodorant, Sheetz Inc convenience stores, Mini, Hyatt, Amy’s pizza, Thayers Natural Remedies, Levis, Carrera Sunglasses, JetBlue and Merrell footwear.

With Coke, Sprite and Pepsi having all turned down the offer of being lead sponsor, Spurlock found a willing collaborator in pomegranate juice makers POM Wonderful. The company committed $1m (£610,000) of which $600,000 (£369,000) was paid up front, the rest dependent on box office success.

As part of the deal Spurlock was obliged to drink POM Wonderful at all times. Even Noam Chomsky, the famed social commentator and critic of commercialism, has a bottle next to him in one shot.

Interestingly, since making the film, Spurlock has formed his own theories as to why the company signed up. “POM is in the process of being sued by the Federal Trade Commission in the US for making grandiose health claims about its product,” he says. “I now wonder whether they got involved with the film because they liked the idea – or if it was to use as a distraction against this other thing.”

In return for “financial considerations” for the brands, Spurlock had to commit to various guarantees including that the film will screen at 250 cinemas worldwide, gross at least $10 million at the box office and sell at least 500,000 DVDs.

Even doing this interview is part of his grand scheme: Spurlock needs to garner some 600 million media impressions – stories, blog posts, tweets, TV spots and so on – to get full pay from the corporate sponsors.

For Spurlock, however, it was only as he started to wade through the acres of tome-sized contracts that the vast enormity of what he had agreed began to sink in: he could only drive a Mini (and can’t disparage Germany while behind the wheel), must get his petrol at Sheetz gas station, only eat Amy’s pizza and conduct an interview on a JetBlue plane. During filming he turned himself into a walking billboard in a Formula One-style ad-covered suit.

The contractual hoopla of the movie does lend itself to some brilliant flashes of black humour. As he gets petrol – at a Sheetz gas station for his Mini Cooper, of course – Spurlock exclaims: “Do you know what I’m glad of? That I’m not driving a piece of shit Volkswagen right now.”

Legally obliged to do an interview in JetBlue’s new airport terminal, Spurlock seizes the opportunity to grill Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a pressure group championing ways to differentiate television advertising from entertainment by using simultaneous on-screen labelling.

As Weissman outlines his plans, he unwittingly provides Spurlock with a platform to plug his assorted products, a series of arrowed pop-ups appearing for Sheetz Inc, Ban, Levis, Merrell and JetBlue. A flashing red ticker runs along the bottom of the screen: “This is an emergency alert. You are currently being targeted for advertising.”

Then comes an announcement over the tannoy: “Robert Weissman loves JetBlue. Happy Jetting.”, leaving the campaigner looking one part bemused and two parts thoroughly cheesed off.

Blessed with the kind of brass neck that makes Piers Morgan look docile, Spurlock has never shirked from carving his own path. Born and raised in West Virginia, his mother was a high school English teacher and father owned a torque wrench repair business. “I was the youngest of three ballet dancing brothers which, believe me, wasn’t the coolest thing to be doing in West Virginia,” he deadpans.

While both brothers went on to become professional dancers, Spurlock was inspired to make movies after watching David Cronenberg’s Scanners aged 10. He moved to New York in his 20s to study film and it was there he met his now ex-wife Alex – who was the disapproving voice of reason in Super Size Me – with whom he has a son, Laken, aged four.

On the career front Spurlock currently has several irons in the fire. His movie, Comic Con: Episode IV – A Fan’s Hope, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last month and he has begun recruiting for his latest television project, The Failure Club, in which real-life New Yorkers conquer their fears in a new online series.

In attempting to expose the inner workings of product placement, there is the moot point as to whether Spurlock himself – despite his most ironic intentions – has, in fact, become a sellout? “Oh, I think I bought in,” he says. “If you are going to make a movie that is going to reach the masses, you need co-promotional support to help get the word out. We would have sold out, though, had I not managed to maintain final cut of the movie.”

I’m curious as to what Spurlock would have done if he hadn’t secured any sponsorship? “I have no idea,” he admits. “There wasn’t any plan B. The plan B was see Plan A. It would just have fallen apart without sponsors.”

A ban on product placement was lifted in February this year, allowing advertisers to pay for their goods to be seen on British television. Paid-for references to products and services are now permitted for the first time, including in soaps and one-off dramas. “Congratulations on that. It’s going to be great,” jokes Spurlock. “The deluge is going to be phenomenal for you guys.” Does he see us going the same way as America? “It’s only a matter of time. It’s not a question of if, it’s when.”

As for the success of POM Wonderful Presents, you get the feeling Spurlock still can’t quite believe he’s pulled if off. “The most surprising aspect of this whole thing? That we got any brands to agree to give us money to make this movie,” he chuckles. “The fact that any companies said yes – I’m still shocked by that every day.”

POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is in cinemas Friday