Super Size Me

Super Size Me is a 2004 documentary film written, produced, directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. Spurlock's film follows a 30-day time period (February 2003) during which he subsists entirely on food and items purchased exclusively from McDonald's, and 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. He consumed an average of 5,000 cal (the equivalent of 9.26 Big Macs) per day during the experiment.

In February 2005, 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.

MSNBC has also broadcast an hour long version of the film, in addition to the regular version.

Before launching this experiment, Spurlock, age 32 at the time the movie was filmed in 2003, ate a varied diet but always had vegan evening meals to appease his then-girlfriend (now wife), Alexandra, a vegan chef. Spurlock was healthy and slim, and stood 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm) tall with a body weight of 185.5 lb (84.1 kg). After thirty days, he gained 24.5 lb (11.1 kg), a 13% body mass increase, and his Body Mass Index rose from 23.2 (within the 'healthy' range of 19-25) to 27 ('overweight'). He also experienced mood swings, sexual dysfunction, 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), although it could be argued that fast food, though physiologically addictive,^[1]^[2] is not as addictive as nicotine.

Experiment

As the film begins, Spurlock is physically above average, as attested to by three doctors (a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, and a general practitioner), as well as a nutritionist and a personal trainer. He enlists all five to track his health during the month-long binge. All of the health professionals predict the "McMonth" will have unwelcome effects on his body, but none expect anything too drastic, one citing the human body as being "extremely adaptable."

Spurlock starts the month with breakfast near his home in Manhattan, where there are an average of four McDonald's (and 66,950 residents, and twice as many commuters) per square mile (2.6 km²). He also elects to ride in taxis more often, since he aims to keep the distances he walks in line with the 5,000 steps (approximately two miles) walked per day by the average American. Spurlock has several stipulations which govern his eating habits:

Day 2 brings Spurlock's first Super Size meal, which happens to be a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal, which takes 22 minutes to eat. He experiences steadily increasing "McStomachaches" during the process, which culminates in Spurlock vomiting in the parking lot.

After five days Spurlock has gained almost 10 pounds (4.5 kg). It is not long before he finds himself with a feeling of depression, and he finds that his bouts of depression, lethargy, and headaches are relieved by a McDonald's meal. One doctor describes him as "addicted." He has soon gained another 13 pounds (6 kg), putting his weight at 203.5 lb (92 kg). By the end of the month he weighs about 210 pounds (95.5 kg), an increase of about 24.5 pounds (about 11 kg). Because he could only eat McDonald's food for a month, Spurlock refused to take any medication at all. At one weigh-in Morgan actually lost 1 lb. from the previous weigh-in much to the surprise of those supervising, but it was hypothesized by a nutritionist that he lost muscle, which weighs more than an identical volume of fat.

Spurlock's girlfriend, Alexandra Jamieson, attests to the fact that Spurlock has lost much of his energy and sex drive during his experiment. It was not clear at the time if Spurlock would be able to complete the full month of the high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, and friends and family began to express worry.

In Day 21, Spurlock had heart palpitations. Consultation with his concerned internist, Dr. Daryl Isaacs advises him to stop what he is doing immediately to avoid any serious health problems. He compares Spurlock with the protagonist in the movie Leaving Las Vegas who deliberately drinks himself to death over a similar time period. Despite this warning, Spurlock decides to continue the experiment. He later stated in an interview that despite worries and objections from most of the people close to him, it was his older brother who tipped the balance with his remark, "Morgan, people eat this shit their whole lives. Do you really think it'll kill you after 9 more days?"

Spurlock makes it to day 30 and achieves his goal. In thirty days, he "Supersized" his meals nine times along the way (five of which were in Texas). All three doctors are surprised at the degree of deterioration in Spurlock's health. One of them states that the irreversible damage done to his liver could cause a heart attack even if he lost all the weight gained during the experiment. He notes that he has eaten more McDonald's meals than an average American should eat in 8 years.

Findings

Text at the conclusion of the movie states that it took Spurlock nine months to lose 20 pounds (9 kg) and another five months to return to his original weight. His girlfriend Alexandra Jamieson, a vegan chef (not a dietitian or medical doctor), began supervising his recovery with her "detox diet," which became the basis for her book, entitled The Great American Detox Diet.^[4]

Alongside Spurlock's personal travails are interviews and sections detailing various factors that could account for the high obesity rates in the United States. He discusses the lack of healthy food available in many U.S. schools, the "luring in" of youth by advertising and McDonald's kid-friendly play parks and clowns, and the relationship between food companies' stockholder profit and their customer health concerns.

"The bottom line, they're a business, no matter what they say, and by selling you unhealthy food, they make millions, and no company wants to stop doing that."

The movie ends with a rhetorical question, "Who do you want to see go first, you or them?" with a cartoon tombstone for Ronald McDonald ("1954-2012") as a backdrop. The cartoon of the tombstone originated in The Economist where it appeared in an article addressing the ethics of marketing toward children.^[5]

In the DVD release of the movie, a short epilogue was added about McDonald's discontinuation of the "Super Size" option, as well as its recent emphasis of healthier menu items such as salads. It is shown that these can contain even more calories than hamburgers, if the customer piles cheese and dressing on them.

Reaction

The film opened in the U.S. on May 7, 2004, and grossed a total of $28,548,087 worldwide, making it the 8th highest grossing documentary film of all time.^[6] It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary but lost to the film Born into Brothels. Also, the film received highly positive reviews; scoring, for example, 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Criticism

Critics of the film, such as McDonald's, argue that the author intentionally consumed an average of 5,000 kcal per day and did not exercise, and that the results would have been the same regardless of the source of the overeating.^{citation needed}

The film addresses such objections by highlighting that a part of the reason for Spurlock's deteriorating health was not just the high calorie intake but also the high quantity of fat relative to vitamins and minerals in the McDonald's menu, which is similar in that regard to the nutritional content of the menus of most other U.S. fast-food chains.

About 1/3 of his calories came from sugar. His nutritionist, Bridget Bennett RD, cited him about his excess intake of sugar from "milkshakes and cokes". It is revealed toward the end of the movie that over the course of the diet, he consumed "over 30 pounds of sugar from their food".^[7] The nutritional side of the diet was not fully explored in the film because of the closure, during the 30 days, of the clinic which was monitoring this aspect.

Spurlock claimed he was trying to imitate what an average diet for a regular eater at McDonald's, for a person who would get little to no exercise, would do to them. It is possible that 5,000 kcal per day is an average diet for a typical consumer of McDonald's or any other fast food source, despite the fact that the average adult male only requires 2,000 kcal per day. However, it is unlikely that many McDonald's customers eat there three times per day. Morgan said that he was eating in thirty days the amount of fast food most nutritionists suggest someone should eat in eight years.^[8] Spurlock did theorize during the course of the film, however, that the average McDonald's consumer likely wasn't eating other, healthier foods in the interim.

Impact

Subsequent to the showing of the film at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, the Super Size fries and beverage were retired from the menu and McDonald's replaced them with healthier foods, though McDonald's denied that this was in reaction to the movie.^{citation needed} In Summer 2006, Super Size beverage was brought back under the name 'Summer Size', but only for a limited time. The corporation did, however, issue a press release on their website, denouncing Spurlock's film and blaming the filmmaker for being a part of the problem, and not the solution. Morgan also mentions in the documentary that despite the addition of healthier options around the same time, McDonald's also added the McGriddle breakfast sandwich to their menu; Morgan called it one of the most unhealthy sandwiches they've ever made, saying it has more fat than the Big Mac and more sugar than their pack of cookies.

The film received the highest-ever opening for a documentary in Australia, and within two weeks of release, it sparked a massive negative ad campaign, with McDonald's admitting the essential unhealthiness of their food but blaming the customer for overindulging. Russo stated to News Limited that customers had been surprised that the company had not addressed the claims. McDonald's placed a 30-second ad spot in the opening trailers of all viewings of Super Size Me and also offered to pay movie theaters to allow McDonald's employees to distribute apples to patrons as they exited the film.^{citation needed}

In recent years however, at least some McDonald's outlets in Australia have offered more nutritious alternatives to their customary menu, particularly where breakfast is concerned. This includes offerings of fresh fruit, and direct resale of popular breakfast cereals made by other companies. The "deli choices" breakfast items are also only made after ordering, so there is less chance of eating food that has been left to sit for some minutes.^{citation needed}

In the United Kingdom, McDonald's placed a brief ad in the trailers of showings of the film, pointing to the website www.supersizeme-thedebate.co.uk (archive). The ads simply stated, "See what we disagree with. See what we agree with."

In April 2006, when British newspaper The Guardian distributed a free DVD of the film, McDonald's placed a full-page advertisement on the back, which included a telephone number for complaints.

This movie's creation gave Spurlock an idea: a show entitled 30 Days, which now airs on the American channel FX, British channel More 4, and formerly on Australian Network Ten.

Alternative experiments

Various similar experiments were made in response to Super Size Me, in an effort to provide alternative scenarios or refute the impressions made by the film. These experiments, however, were mainly balanced diets and healthy eating programs, capable of demonstrating that it is possible to eat from the McDonald's menu without upsetting one's health. At the same time, Super Size Me and these similar experiments fall short of illustrating the healthiness of a typical McDonald's consumer's choice (the quintessential "burger, Coke and fries" meal). Alternate studies do not address the alterations that occurred to Spurlock's blood chemistry, but Super Size Me did not show that this was a special characteristic of fast-food diets, and not high-calorie diets in general or the lack of exercise. Note that Spurlock's original intention was to show that a typical American's food intake at McDonald's was unhealthy, not whether if it was possible to have a healthy meal at McDonald's.

"The Smoking Fry"

Spurlock also filmed another demonstration which he called "The Smoking Fry." It can be seen in the special features of the film's DVD. In this demonstration, he leaves McDonald's food (an order of French Fries, a Big Mac, a Filet-O-Fish, a Chicken McGrill, and a Quarter Pounder with cheese) along with a burger and fries from a "slow food" type of restaurant in jars in order to see the rate at which the different meals decomposed, and implies that the same is done when the food is consumed. The burger and fries from the alternate restaurant decomposed quickly, as did most of the McDonald's food, with the exception of the Big Mac and the McDonald's french fries. The Big Mac lasted five weeks, after 10 weeks the documentary claims that the fries still had not begun to decompose and were thrown out by an intern due to the smell of the McSandwiches, but according to an unrelated experiment, broadcasted on YouTube presented by Diet.com, a woman saved four-year old McDonald's french fries that had not started to decompose. ^[11]

Criticism

A likely explanation for the lack of decomposition in the McDonald's french fries compared to the fries from the "slow food" restaurant has to do with the moisture content of the two samples. When deep fried, food loses a portion of its moisture content. McDonald's fries are thin cut, whereas the sample from the alternative restaurant were thick-cut steak fries. More surface area will be exposed in the McDonald's fries compared to the thick-cut fries. This will result in the thin-cut fries retaining less overall moisture compared to the thick-cut fries. Molding and decomposition can occur only with sufficient water content, therefore, explaining the discrepancy in the two fry samples. This is the same process involved in other food products with long shelf lives. Dried fruit is resistant to the relatively quick spoilage of fresh fruit. Honey's low water content also prevents the growth of spoiling micro-organisms.^[12]

"The Smoking Fry" test was not a truly adequate test because of the insufficient samples. The following samples should have also been compared to determine whether molding would have occured: uncooked McDonald's fries, uncooked thick-cut fries, McDonald's fries deep fried in the "slow food" restaurant's oil, thick-cut fries deep fried in McDonald's oil. If there was still a discrepancy in molding of the McDonald's fries after these additional tests had been run, it would sufficiently raise suspicion about the content and nature of the fries themselves. This not being the case, "The Smoking Fry" is an overall insufficient demonstration.

Contents

Experiment

Findings

Reaction

Criticism

Impact

Alternative experiments

"The Smoking Fry"

Criticism

See also

References

External links