There may not be a point to this Morgan Spurlock documentary other than the obvious fact that sales-based corporations market and advertise themselves in all sorts of ways, but it sure is entertaining watching him illustrate the point. And it’s not as obvious as you might think; in the sense that the general public is so bombarded with plugs; they’ve become such a normal part of our lives; that we tend to overlook them. They just sort of blend in with everything else. So when he takes us to São Paulo, Brazil; a city in which the mayor has banned all public advertising; it looks like some kind of weird ghost town; a place I wouldn’t want to live.

That’s because, with a few annoying exceptions like internet pop-ups and people stopping me on the streets, I don’t mind companies trying to sell me things. It’s an effortless way to discover new products I might find useful or otherwise like. Whether they’re psychologically manipulating my brain “activity” or not, I don’t feel as if I’m being taken advantage of because it’s ultimately my choice whether to buy in or not. And the fun tone Spurlock presents as he goes around meeting with different executives to sponsor his “Movie”; the fourth-wall-collapsing irony is that a documentary about ads is funded by ads; suggests he’d agree with me.

my rating : 4 of 5

2011