By Ali Ikram
Product placement in movies can sometimes be subtle.
It can sometimes be difficult to know where the hawking stops and the plot actually begins. But the reality is there is plenty of it around and it is just going to get worse.
US documentary film maker Morgan Spurlock is in the country for the New Zealand Film Festival and is hawking his film - that hawks endless products.
Spurlock is the man whose name will forever be associated with McDonalds after his documentary Super Size Me.
Now he wants his audience to know he has moved on
“I haven't set foot inside a McDonalds since March 2, 2003, and why would I eat a McDonalds when I can have a delicious Amy's Pizza."
In POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold Spurlock travels to Sao Paulo Brazil where when outdoor advertising was completely banned there were dire predictions it would kill business.
“The companies there started to do better business because they had to concentrate on customer service; they started to concentrate on their sense of community. The most surprising thing about the clean city act is that crime has gone down,” he says.
But the million dollars US he got for naming rights to the movie is now worth less by the day as the US debt crisis continues.
“In a few years the dollar is going to be strong because all the jobs we outsourced will be coming back again because we'll be sewing all the shoes.”
Spurlock however is likely to avoid the sweat shop for now. He is already making his next film a documentary on the world's largest comic book festival Comic Con.
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