A Two and a Half Hour Marlboro Ad.

Rating: 1/10 (25 December 2011)

Fincher's TGWTDT is a two and a half hour advertisement for tobacco - specifically, Marlboro brand cigarettes, the only brand smoked in the film. There is also propagandistic messaging in the movie: two scenes that ridicule those who protest indoor smoking, a main character that easily quits tobacco after using it to help him in his work, an old age smoker who smokes joyfully with no apparent health effects, and, of course, the glamor of it all. We all know there is product placement in movies, but the level of propaganda is under the radar to most people. It's a conspiracy pure and simple, but few people care about it or understand it.