From the meta-documentary The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, to the dark comedy Thank You For Smoking, and the family-friendly adventure WALL-E, the evils of advertising has been at the center of a wide-range of features. But never has marketing seemed so purposefully menacing as in Branded, an upcoming sci-fi thriller featuring Max Von Sydow, Jeffrey Tambor, and Leelee Sobieski.
Spawned by writing-directing team Jamie Bradshaw and Aleksandr Dulerayn, Branded reveals a terrifying tale set in a dystopian future where corporations willfully deceive the consumer population, manipulating them to their own evil ends. I mean, can you imagine such a thing?
But wait! This isn't your average tale of avarice and corporate greed, but rather a story of conspiracy, brain-draining, and world domination! Check out the feature's creepy first trailer to uncover what lurks behind ads…like this one:
While encrypted codes in advertisements has made most of the globe's population docile, dumb and blind to the true nature of the world around them, Misha Galkin (Ed Stoppard) is shocked to discover what lies behind these promotions' sleek veneer. Being the only one who can actually see this ballooning threat to humanity, Galkin is forced to become mankind's champion against the evil forces invisibly driving us into ruin.
Formerly titled Mad Cow, Branded weaves modern fears of corporate corruption into a bizarre monster movie that makes marketing the enemy, presenting a curious problem to the film's own publicity team. Considering the trailer's warnings about hidden codes, it's a curious move to lace the trailer and poster—viewable below courtesy of EW—with QR codes. Do you dare see what they unlock?
Branded opens September 7th.
