Those that think otherwise can live in the wilderness and visit national parks on vacation. They rec...

1. The Greatest Movie Ever Sold: More Lies about Marketing
Those that think otherwise can live in the wilderness and visit national parks on vacation. They
received their marketing education from inaccurate media portrayals, such as this movie, or
marketing professors that recycle outdated concepts they were taught.
Marketing is not pollution unless done incorrectly
I understand that a documentary needs to take a point of view.
Last Updated May 30, 2011 11:48 PM EDT
Morgan Spurlock, creator of Super Size Me, introduced his documentary on product placement and
other forms of marketing last Friday. In presenting this theme, Morgan Spurlock deceives viewers
from the beginning. It is important to learn how too many in our society view marketing. Marketing
is not the culprit. Visitors and residents alike view these as energizing and exciting. In Mr. (In the
Huffington Post, Marshall Fine says, "I wish it was a little funnier - or more pointed..." On the other
side, Kirk Honeycutt, in the Film Journal International calls it a "hilarious and sly new
documentary.")
To me?
This movie is just another negative portrayal of marketing. Follow him on Twitter.
image courtesy of flickr users, redeye^ and Neil Armstrong2
© 2011 CBS Interactive Inc.. Marketers know that product placement and advertising are only two
of zillions of methods of promotion.
And promotion is only one of what I call the Seven Building Blocks of marketing (the other six are
corporate image, positioning, product, price, distribution, and the marketing information system).
If you are going to make a movie about something perhaps you should better understand what that
something is. What's new about that? From Arthur Miller's classic, "Death of A Salesman," to Oliver
Stone's Wall Street, and the current TV hit Mad Men, marketers are frequently depicted as slimy,
sleazy, liars. You can find good and bad examples of any profession. Other clues include:

2. marketing budgets are cut in recessions when they should be increased
the average tenure of the CMO position is only two years
most marketing professors are teaching the 4Ps of marketing, which do not incorporate the critically
important concepts of corporate image, positioning, and marketing metrics that have become
essential building blocks of marketing in 2011 and beyond.
What do you think of movies that use bad
examples of any profession to define that
profession?
Related:
Ira Kalb is president of Kalb & Associates,
an international consulting and training
firm, and professor of marketing at the
Marshall School of Business at University of Southern California (USC). I don't understand why a
movie, disguised as a documentary, would castigate an essential function of business that, when
done correctly, informs and differentiates - giving prospects good reasons to buy one product over
another. All Rights Reserved.
. Ironically, it gives further confirmation that marketers have done a poor job of marketing
themselves. Why deceive people by using bad examples to define Marketing?
Who decides what is good and bad?
More interestingly, it is hard for people in a free society to agree on what is good and bad. Many
take photographs of them. Times Square in New York City, The Strip in Las Vegas, and billboards on
Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood have bright lights that advertise products and attract people from
around the world. Fine's words, it's a "movie about the insidious and invasive nature of advertising
in our modern life, you expect to learn something new..."
What do viewers learn?
The overall theme of the movie is that marketing is pollution. As Sly Stone said, "Different strokes
for different folks."
What marketers can learn from this movie?
Even though I disagree with the point of view taken in this movie, I think marketers should see it. To
most people, the marketing of any product they do not want (for me that is fruitcake) is "insidious
and invasive." For those that really want a product, related marketing is considered informative,
desired, and in many cases beautiful. He says the film is about "product placement, marketing, and
advertising." That's analogous to the host of a banquet telling the guests that they will be served
salad, food, and dessert - a bit of a hierarchy problem (salad is food and dessert is a category of
food). Entitled "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold," the movie opened to

3. mixed reviews. Bad marketing is. Of course, this faux pas probably won't hurt the box office because
many film-goers don't really know what marketing is either