POM Wonderful ran an ad a little while ago where they suggested that perhaps it was a pomegranate Eve tempted Adam with in the Garden of Eden. And they want us to believe this, because their company is owned by Satan, and all to distract us from the fact that an apple a day keeps the doctor away! So they’re trying to kill us all! Help, help! Actually, that doesn’t really make sense. If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and an apple is what the serpent used to trick Eve into tempting Adam into original sin, then wouldn’t it be that an apple a day keeps the doctor away because a veil of evil prevents the doctor from finding and reaching you in your times of need, and this is why you will die horribly if you eat apples, since they repel doctors? And this is all Satan’s plan to kill us with lies, tricking us into thinking apples have healthy properties, when in actuality they merely repel healthcare professionals when we’re sick, right? So then POM is innocent of all your slanders, man! (I know, I suggested it; but I blame you anyway. And I’ll act all sweet and innocent, so they’ll think it was you: Mwa ha ha!) Unless with this commercial, they’re trying to tell us that pomegranates are all dripping with evil (as well as juice), and they’re the sole reason for original sin and the expulsion from paradise, but that they want us to drink their corrupting juice anyway, and sending this message in a very bible-thumping nation, many of whom believe the Bible literally: nice! (I guess that’s supposed to bring extra meaning for when they say their product is “tempting”!)
Oh, sorry, I guess I’m being awfully suspicious, huh? But it’s all this commercial’s fault, breaking as it does with religious tradition, confusing us all. Heresy! Burn the heretics! Oh, sorry… Anyway, this commercial initially struck a responsive chord with me due to the fact that the imagery was very similar to that of a racy poster that was very popular and famous when I was a little kid: that of Nastassja Kinski and a boa constrictor. (I will provide a link to this image below for those of you who are unfamiliar with it.) This poster was on sale at every mall across the country for years, and I believe that’s what this whole ad concept is based on. Anyway, it’s kind of cute, but it made me think of the poster, and then about the religious controversy this was going to cause within the Bible Belt, and it somewhat distracted me from the message of the ad. I remember this commercial, but another marketing enterprise actually got me to try the product.
That’s right everyone, I was sold on this product, and now buy and drink POM Wonderful semi-regularly because they sponsored Morgan Spurlock’s product placement movie: POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. That title alone is a ridiculous sham, as every movie is “sold” in one way or another, and this is hardly the greatest movie of any genre. Plus, this movie is really rather disappointing, playing out more like a pretty good documentary on basic cable about advertising, rather than a theatrical movie. Maybe it's just my pre-conceived expectations of what I wanted to see. But I was really hoping it would make an effort to illustrate the manner in which product placement affects theatrical movies, showing joke skits of what different famous movies would be like had they used different product placement, or were sponsored heavily by a specific company. There are so many great examples of this in reality already, but I don’t remember them being covered in the movie (although I missed a little bit of it by tuning in late). What am I talking about? Well…
Everyone who likes the movie E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial ought to know that a major plot point was intended to utilize M&Ms candy, but M&M/Mars refused to take part in some crappy science fiction movie that would soil their illustrious brand, so Spielberg, et. al., had to settle for Reese’s Pieces, which became a hugely successful candy due to its being featured in this huge mega-hit. (And this is why M&Ms is forcing its M&M actors to undress in pornographic TV ads: simply disgraceful! {I’m kidding. They’re cute ads!} But it’s a good thing they didn’t use M&Ms, because E.T. would have loved them so much, he would have told his alien race all about their chocolaty goodness when he “phoned home”, and they would have become addicted to them and invaded Earth, conquering us so they could have all they can eat M&Ms!) Plus, Monty Python had a very silly example of product placement run amok in some sketch about a historical drama that employs actors carrying large advertising signs into battle, has slogans painted onto their armor, etc.: it’s ridiculous! But the film doesn’t use clips of this, either, even though for the message he was sending, Monty Python might have just let him use it for free. (You never know unless you ask.)
But I was hoping to see scenes from Star Wars where they clean up some Empire massacre with Bounty paper towels, and demonstrate how bargain brands come apart in all the blood and gore. Or how about having Raiders of the Lost Ark show how Revo sunglasses can protect you from the scourge of curses from ancient artifacts like the Ark of the Covenant while still keeping your eyes open to see all the awesome spectacle: for even God thinks Revos are un-punishably cool! Or, what if Smart Car had sponsored The Dukes of Hazzard, and they were forced to speed all through the backwoods and jump hills in a Smart Car, rather than a vintage Dodge Charger? And how about a slasher movie like Friday the 13th being sponsored by a specific brand of knife, with the killer giving it a testimonial at the end of the movie saying/showing how the blade stayed sharp enough to cleanly slice a tomato even after stabbing so many teenagers to death with it? I also wrote a piece last year about how liquor product placement could have altered some major movies (like Titanic), and you can find that here:
But I was hoping to see scenes from Star Wars where they clean up some Empire massacre with Bounty paper towels, and demonstrate how bargain brands come apart in all the blood and gore. Or how about having Raiders of the Lost Ark show how Revo sunglasses can protect you from the scourge of curses from ancient artifacts like the Ark of the Covenant while still keeping your eyes open to see all the awesome spectacle: for even God thinks Revos are un-punishably cool! Or, what if Smart Car had sponsored The Dukes of Hazzard, and they were forced to speed all through the backwoods and jump hills in a Smart Car, rather than a vintage Dodge Charger? And how about a slasher movie like Friday the 13th being sponsored by a specific brand of knife, with the killer giving it a testimonial at the end of the movie saying/showing how the blade stayed sharp enough to cleanly slice a tomato even after stabbing so many teenagers to death with it? I also wrote a piece last year about how liquor product placement could have altered some major movies (like Titanic), and you can find that here:
But this movie’s pros and cons notwithstanding, it’s a fun peek into the world of advertising and its effects, etc. But that’s not what sold me on POM Wonderful. Morgan Spurlock shows his meeting with this company’s executives/owners, and he presents some ad ideas for them (and they’re the usual, visual concept-driven type of advertising you might expect to get approved, and which we all see on TV every day), but they don’t want those, and they tell him why. And it’s that scene, where they explain why they don’t want to use his ad ideas, because they’re a product that is more expensive because it uses 100% fresh-squeezed juice. Apparently other brands say they use “100% juice”, but it’s not true. But POM Wonderful really does, supposedly, use 100% fresh pomegranate juice in their stuff, and that’s why it costs more. And it was this message that they wanted to convey in their ads. (They had used the clever, concept-driven advertising with this “Eve” commercial, and apparently it didn’t work for them as well as they had hoped.) And after seeing that scene, I decided to try POM Wonderful pomegranate juice, and I love it! So it was that informational message, and not any shtick or high-concept spot, that made me want to try it. And sometimes it’s that information that works best of all to attract people to a product, rather than some amusing scenario, or annoying approach, or recognizable mascot, etc.
Here’s the originally sinning spot:
And here’s that Nastassja Kinski snake poster:
Oh, sorry, that’s Miss Piggy’s version. But here’s really Nastassja’s snake poster:
And here’s another version, from some magazine, just for teasing you:
BTW: The POM people must be made out of money or something, because aside from making a high quality product that’s expensive and probably not on all that many shopping lists, apparently they went on a road trip into the desert somewhere to shoot their ads, when they could easily have shot it on a stage with a “green set” for lots less money. But hey, this might show something else entirely, that being the fact that these guys apparently cut no corners whatsoever! And there’s really something to be said for a company that does that these days. Anyway, here’s the behind the scenes bit that shows them actually driving out to different locations to shoot this ad and its campaign siblings:
