As part of the marketing strategy for his (completely original) new documentary POM Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Morgan Spurlock has purchased the rights to rename the city of Altoona, Pennsylvania after his own film. For the next 60 days, the economically struggling town will be known as POM Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Pennsylvania—a living embodiment of the increasing influence of product placement, and what Spurlock says with an appropriate tinge of shamelessness will be “the most clever example of how an American city is marketing itself today.”It’s also, of course, an obnoxious publicity stunt advertising a film that is itself about obnoxious publicity stunts, but hey, at least the city is putting Spurlock’s money to good use, with all $25,000 going to benefit its police department. In other news, was it just common knowledge that you could just pay a city to change its name? Maybe we should all pool our money and fuck with West Virginia or something.
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