“So what I want to do is make a film all about product placement, marketing, and advertising where the entire film is funded by product placement, marketing, and advertising.”

- Morgan Spurlock, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

If you have heard about this documentary, the latest film from Morgan “Ate McDonald’s for a Month” Spurlock, check out the trailer above. The movie released in select cities about a week ago, and I haven’t yet had a chance to see it but am planning on tracking a showing down very soon. The movie entirely about, and perhaps the perfect example of, the convergence of entertainment and marketing. I like to live my life at the intersection of those two streets, so this is really interesting to me.

He’s out to “make the ‘Iron Man’ of documentaries”… that is, a movie in which every minute is brought to you by the “world’s greatest _____.” Remember when Tony Stark bit into a Whopper during his press conference after escaping his terrorist captors? That moment is what Spurlock’s movie is all about.

In a world where Old Spice commercials are funnier than 85% of scripted sitcoms and movies allow brands to sponsor everything from the cars in the chase scene to the beer in the bar scene, where does entertainment end and marketing begin? Are the two even separate anymore? Perhaps the bigger question is, were they ever? Remember that black-and-white Flintstones clip where Fred and Barney are raving about the smooth flavor of Winston cigarettes? Brands have been paying to embed themselves in our entertainment for decades. Whether that’s a good or bad thing for society is not for me to say, but it is absolutely an inevitable part of our culture. And whatever the answer may be, it has major implications for anyone who calls themselves a marketer.

Props to Morgan Spurlock for making an original movie with an interesting concept. I can’t wait to see it.