Thursday, April 28, 2011

Altoona, Pa., changes name to Spurlock movie title

POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD, Pa. (AP) — About 31,000 central Pennsylvanians will soon be living in a joke.

Beginning at 1 p.m. Wednesday, the city of Altoona will change its name to "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold," after the latest film by sarcastic documentarian Morgan Spurlock.

The city is changing its name for 60 days to make some money — and to help Spurlock make a point about the proliferation of advertising in American life.

He'll be in the city 85 miles east of Pittsburgh Wednesday for the East Coast premiere of the film, which opened far more conventionally in Los Angeles last week.

Spurlock, who gained more than 20 pounds by eating nothing but McDonald's food for a month in his 2004 film "Super Size Me," paid the city $25,000 to rename itself after his movie to underscore its message.

"We live in a place and a time when it seems like everything is brought to you by some sponsor," Spurlock told The Associated Press. "It starts to become this question of, 'Where does it end?'"

"Even when I'm standing at a urinal, chances are there's an ad or a video screen staring back at me," Spurlock said. "That used to be a little 'me' time that I had, a little private 'me' time that I'd like to have back."

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