Super Size Me

Super Size Me is a 2004 documentary film, directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an independent United States filmmaker. It follows a period in which he eats only McDonald's fast food, three times a day, every day, for thirty days, eating everything on the McDonald's menu at least once—and stops exercising regularly—and it documents the physical and psychological effects this has upon him. In addition, Spurlock explores the corporate influence of the fast food industry and how it encourages poor nutrition for its own profit.

Spurlock, age 33, was healthy and slim, with a body mass of 185.5 lb (84.1 kg). Spurlock's height is 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m). After thirty days, he gained 24.5 lb (11.1 kg), an increase of 13% of his body mass. He also experienced mood swings, sexual dysfunction, and nearly catastrophic liver damage. It took several months to lose the weight he gained and return to normal.

The 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 claimed, became obese as a result of eating too much McDonald's food. Spurlock points out that, although the lawsuit against McDonald's failed, much of the same criticism of the tobacco companies applies to fast food franchises.

The film opened in the U.S. on May 7, 2004, and grossed a total of $28,548,087 worldwide, making it the 6th highest grossing documentary film^*. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, but lost to the film Born into Brothels.

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.

The experiment

As the film begins, Spurlock is physically above average, as attested to by three doctors he enlists to track his health during the month-long binge. All three 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 a McBreakfast near his home in Manhattan, where there is one McDonald's per ¼ mi² (0.6 km²). The month also sees an increase in his use of taxis, as he aims to keep the distances he walks in line with the 5000 steps walked per day by the average American. Spurlock has several rules which govern his eating habits:

He must eat three McDonald's meals a day.
He must sample every item on the McDonald's menu at least once.
He must only ingest items on the menu. Bottled water is on the menu, so he may drink it.
He must "Super Size" his meal whenever the option is offered.

Day 2 brings Spurlock's first Super Size meal, which he spends approximately half an hour eating. He experiences steadily increasing discomfort during the process, which culminates in Spurlock vomiting.

After five days Spurlock has gained almost 10 pounds (5 kg). It is not long before he finds himself with a feeling of depression, and not much longer until he finds 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 10 pounds, putting his weight at 203 lb (92 kg). By the end of the month he weighs about 210 lb (95.5 kg), an increase of almost 25 lb (11 kg) which takes him five months to lose again.

Because he could only eat McDonald's food for a month, Spurlock refused to take any medication at all.

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

Around day 20, Spurlock experiences heart palpitations. Consultation with his concerned general practitioner, Dr Daryl Isaacs, reveals that Spurlock's liver is "pâté", and the doctor advises him to stop what he is doing immediately to avoid any serious heart problems. He compares Spurlock with the protagonist in 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 he was inspired to do so by his brother who, when Spurlock confided his doubts about continuing, responded, "Morgan, people eat this shit their whole lives!"

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, the state with the highest number of "fat cities" in the U.S., according to one somewhat controversial study). All three doctors are surprised at the degree of deterioration in Spurlock's health.

After the completion of the project, it would take Spurlock several months to return to his normal weight of 185 pounds. His girlfriend (now wife) Alexandra, a vegan chef, began supervising his recovery with her "detox diet," which became the basis for her book, entitled The Great American Detox Diet.

Summary

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

Like Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, the film alleges there is a dark side of the fast food industry. "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 lack of exercise is only partially addressed, and critics claim this would change the overall tone of the piece.

The movie ends with a rhetorical question, "Who do you want to see go first, you or them?" with a tombstone for Ronald McDonald as a backdrop.

In the dvd release of the movie, a short epilogue was added about McDonald's recent emphasis of healthier menu items such as salads. It is shown that these contain even more calories than hamburgers.

Impact

Subsequent to the showing of the film at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, McDonald's phased out its Supersize meal option, and began offering healthier menu items in addition to its customary fare, though McDonald's denied that this was in reaction to the movie. 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.

The film received the highest-ever opening for a documentary in Australia and, within two weeks of release, sparked a massive negative ad campaign, with an estimated cost of 1.4 million USD, from McDonald's of Australia. CEO Guy Russo described the documentary, on television commercials which aired on all major Australian networks, as being "about a person who decides to overeat", and attempted to minimize Spurlock's claim of the unhealthiness of fast food by agreeing with 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 theatres to allow McDonald's employees to distribute apples to patrons as they exited the film.

Incidentally, country singer Gretchen Wilson announced a commitment to eating at McDonald's at every stop along her world tour.

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. 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 advert on the back, which included a telephone number for complaints.

Controversy

Several criticisms of Spurlock's film have been made.

His experiment includes forcing himself to eat three meals a day, even when not hungry which can cause rapid weight gain due to the stretching of the stomach. This is also one of the common problems in persons who are obese due to over eating. His diet was also between two and three times the Recommended Dietary Allowance of 2000 to 2500 calories (8,400 to 10,500 kilojoules). (Note: Spurlock did not say that he must eat only three meals a day. He often consumed large milkshakes as desserts.)

He never explicitly itemizes the quantity of food he is eating on a regular basis and whether or not that quantity is due to the super size option being offered, or whether he is merely intentionally and voluntarily overeating.

Spurlock also quit exercising which also may have been a large contribution to the reason he gained so much weight in such a little time. If he had continued his regular exercise routine the results may have been different. However, he does state that he was trying to reproduce what the "average" American does, although the average McDonalds customer does not eat three of the restaurant's meals a day. Hence, this experiment gives extreme results.

After the film's release, it was rumored that Spurlock was a vegetarian prior to filming the documentary, leading critics to argue that his body was unable to adjust to the two completely different eating styles. However, while his girlfriend is vegan, and although he used a refined vegan diet to "detox" after his 30-day diet of food found only on a McDonald's menu ^*, Spurlock himself is neither a vegetarian nor vegan, as mentioned in the film.

In popular culture

Beyond its application to the McDonald's corporation, the phrase "super size me" has been associated with various items and events that can be viewed as needlessly excessive. For example, in a New York Times article, the author writes: "though some smaller companies are quality-oriented, large corporate construction companies still rule the sites, with their supersize-me approach to building." ^* In New Zealand, the radical Unite workers union launched a national campaign and strikewave in fast food restaurants called SupersizeMyPay.com .

The usage of so-called McWords is a testament to the influence McDonald's has on popular culture, akin to the frequent use of "Mc-" as a prefix, as in McJob, McMansion, McChurch and McDojo.

Alternative experiments

Various similar experiments were made in response to Super Size Me, trying to prove Morgan wrong. These experiments, however, were mainly balanced diets and healthy eating programs, capable of demonstrating that it is posible to eat McDonalds' menu without upsetting one's health, but hardly capable of illustrate the healthiness of a typical McDonalds' consumer's choice (the quintessential "burger, coke and fries" meal).

In the Netherlands Wim Meij, a reporter with the Algemeen Dagblad (a Dutch newspaper), did another experiment. He too limited himself to eating at McDonalds, but instead of choosing just any meal from the menu, he carefully chose it, with an emphasis on salads. He came out at least as healthy as he was before he started his 30-day experiment and lost 6.5 kg (14 lb) in the process.

In New Jersey, USA, documentary filmmaker Scott Caswell also did a similar experiment. The results of his diet can be seen in his movie, which is titled Bowling for Morgan. It can be seen for free at BowlingForMorgan.com. Like Spurlock, Caswell consumed only McDonald's food, but opted for the healthier choices and did not gorge himself. Over the course of the experiment, he lost 19 pounds and his cholesterol fell sharply.

Soso Whaley, of Kensington, New Hampshire, made her own film about dieting at McDonald's, called Me and Mickey D. The film follows Whaley as she spends three 30-day periods on the diet. She dropped from 175 to 139 pounds, eating 2,000 calories a day at McDonald's. The film was funded by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (Whaley holds a C.E.I. fellowship).

Raleigh, North Carolina, resident Merab Morgan went on a 90-day diet in which she ate McDonald's exclusively, but she limited her intake to 1,400 calories (5,900 kilojoules) per day. She lost 37 pounds in the process. Article on CNN

Professor James Painter, chair of Eastern Illinois University’s School of Family and Consumer Sciences, made the documentary Portion Size Me. The film follows two graduate students, one a 254-pound male and the other a 108-pound female, as they ate a fast-food diet for a month but in portions appropriate for their size. Both students lost weight and their cholesterol improved by the end of the experiment.^*

NOTE: Weight loss is automatically achieved by expending more energy than is consumed in the diet. This can be done by decreasing total calorie consumption and/or by increasing physical activity.

Soundtrack album track listing

Kids' Camp Song
Shimmy She Wobble - Otha Turner
What Would Happen?
Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen
Morgan's Happy Eating Theme - Steve Horowitz
My First McNuggets
Chicken Rhythm - Slim Gaillard
Buffalo Gals - Eric Weissberg
A Secret Study
Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's - Wesley Willis
Ham
Rubber Biscuit - The Chips
Potato Chips - Slim Gaillard
I Have To Be On Top
Health Blues - Michael Parrish
Fifty-Two Liters
Blue Danube Waltz - Johann Strauss
Aspirin
Fat - Violent Femmes
Yummy, Yummy, Yummy - 1910 Fruitgum Company
Oh Boy...The Damage That Can't Be Undone
It Must Stink To Be Pink - Folkfoot
Station Blues - Otha Turner
McStomach Ache
Super Size Me - Toothpick

External links

The Super Size Me website
When All Those Big Macs Bite Back (registration required)
Morgan Spurlock Watch
SuperSizeMe-TheDebate
Tiny Mix Tapes article: Soso Whaley Vs. Super Size Me
Big Mac Attack: Super Size Me asks the question: Is McDonald’s unappealing -- or irresistible?
Eating Addictions Anonymous 12 step support for those seeking a healthy approach to food and eating.

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