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Supersize Me
I just watched the documentary "Supersize Me" and I really want to share the story with all of you.
"Super Size Me" is a 2004 documentary film written, produced, directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. It is funny and frightening at the same time. Spurlock's film follows a 30-day time period during which he limits himself to only eat McDonald's food. The film documents this lifestyle's drastic effects on Spurlock's physical and psychological well-being and explores the fast food industry's corporate influence, including how it encourages poor nutrition for its own profit.
During the filming, Spurlock dined at McDonald's restaurants three times per day, sampling every item on the chain's menu at least once. He also "super-sized" his meal every time he was asked. Spurlock consumed an average of 20.92 megajoules or 5,000 kcal (the equivalent of 9.26 Big Macs) per day during the experiment. As a result, the then-32-year-old Spurlock gained 24½ lbs. (1¾ stone, 11.1 kg), a 13% body mass increase, and experienced mood swings, sexual dysfunction (his girlfriend is vegan) and liver damage. It took Spurlock fourteen months to lose the weight he gained.
The stated driving factor for Spurlock's investigation was the increasing spread of obesity throughout U.S. society, which the Surgeon General has declared "epidemic" and the corresponding lawsuit brought against McDonald's on behalf of two overweight girls, who, it was alleged, became obese as a result of eating McDonald's food. Spurlock points out that although the lawsuit against McDonald's failed (and subsequently many state legislatures have legislated against product liability actions against producers and distributors of "fast food"), much of the same criticism leveled against the tobacco companies applies to fast food franchises (except that these companies never lied about their product). It could be argued though that fast food, though physiologically addictive, is not as addictive as nicotine.
The documentary was nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Feature.
On February 2005, the "Super Size Me" Educationally Enhanced DVD edition was released. It is an edited version of the film designed to be integrated into a high school health curriculum.
(Source: Wikipedia.com)
Oh yes, before I forget:
McDonalds was soo scared about this movie, that they teamed up (succesfully) with Oprah and Dr Green in order to "green" their image.
Of course Oprah and Dr Green got a lot of money out of it!!
I saw that movie some time ago. It was scary that it took such a long time to get back to his normal weight. Most of the time those 'supersize' or 'set menu' deals don't really add up anyway. I've already got all kinds of drinks in the fridge so why would I want to pay extra for a 1.5l bottle of cola with it :-).
It's similar when shopping. Sometimes the bigger size packages such as shampoo are actually more expensive than 2 small ones (when compared to its contents volume) so (1) you pay more and (2) there is more damage to the environment due to excessive packaging, weight and transportation.
I even stopped buying any products from brands that use this kind of trickery. If they do that, who knows what else they are involved with. If they ask me 'supersize?' I ask them 'Do I look too skinny?'.
Great movie indeed!
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