Presentation 1: Introduction
About the film…
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The film is a documentary
The film was made in 2004
The film running time is 97 minutes
The director, producer, writer and star is Morgan
Spurlock
He lives on a diet of nothing but McDonald's food for a
month.
He questions American eating habits
Spurlock visits several specialists, including a GP, a
nutritionist and a cardiologist. In his notes at the start,
the GP records "general health outstanding" During the
course of the film, Spurlock goes on to gain weight
After five days there's been a five per cent increase in
his body weight
After 12 days he's gained 17lb (over seven kilos)
By 22 days, all the specialists are giving him serious
warnings. Spurlock's health has been seriously
compromised
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On average nearly one-third of U.S children aged 4 to 19 eat fast food on a daily
basis.
Over the course of a year this bad habit is likely to result in the child gaining six extra
pounds every year.
In a research experiment done by Paediatrics, 6,212 children and adolescents ages 4
to 19 years old were examined to find out some information about fast food.
30.3% of the total sample have reported to have eaten fast food on a given day
Fast-food consumption was prevalent in both males and females, all racial/ethnic
groups, and all regions of the country.
Children who ate fast food, compared with those who did not, consumed more total
fat, carbohydrates, and sugar-sweetened beverages. Children who ate fast food also
ate less fibre, milk, fruits, and non-starchy vegetables.
The researchers concluded that consumption of fast food by children seems to have
a negative effect on an individual's diet, in ways that could significantly increase the
risk for obesity.
Fast Food…
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What is fast food?
Where do you buy fast food?
How often do you eat fast food?
How often do you think you should eat it?
• What is your favourite food and drink?
Fast Food continued…
• How often do you and your family eat a home cooked
meal at the dining table?
• How often do you and your family eat take-away food at
home?
• Do you think that some take-away foods are healthier
than others?
• How often do you and your family eat at a fast food
restaurant?
• Ask your parents these same questions about their
childhood. How have eating habits changed?
Your eating habits…
• Who is responsible for what you eat?
• How much information do you like to know about
what you’re eating?
• Food advertisements feature heavily on
television, particularly late afternoon. Why
this time?
• Should there be more control over
advertising of unhealthy food?
Fast food advertising research…
• Keep a record of food advertisements on TV
between 4-6pm over a one-week period.
(Product / Target audience / Images / Slogans /
Number of times advertisements appear in one
night / Your reaction)
• After one week, bring your findings to the class
and discuss these questions:
– Did the advertisements influence you or your friends
to buy the product?
– Did you compare your own life to the lives shown in
the advertisements?
– In what ways could these advertising strategies be
used positively?
McDonald’s adverts
• Watch each of the following two
McDonalds’ adverts and note down your
thoughts on the way it promotes the food.
The premise of the film (1)
Concerned about the increasing rate of
obesity in America and a lawsuit in which
two teenagers unsuccessfully tried to
sue McDonald’s for making them fat,
Morgan Spurlock embarks on a thirty day
McDonald’s-only diet experiment. He
sets himself four rules:
1. He can only eat things on sale at
McDonald’s.
2. He must Super Size his meal if asked.
3. He has to eat everything on the
McDonald’s menu at least once.
4. He has to eat three meals a day.
Further, he decides to restrict himself to
the ‘average’ amount of exercise, typical
of the American population.
The premise of the film (2)
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Spurlock, who has good genes,
doesn’t smoke, do drugs or drink
alcohol, is declared at the start of
the experiment to be in ‘perfect’
health by two specialists, a general
practitioner and a nutritionist.
Super Size Me tracks his initial
medical examination and the
‘McDonald’s-only experiment’ and
all its effects. During the thirty days
Spurlock also explores a number of
related issues including: the fast
food companies’ targeting of
children, increasing obesity rates
and the medical ramifications,
school lunches, and the lobbying
power of large food companies.
Along the way he interviews a host
of characters and presents a
barrage of statistics. By the end of
his ‘little extreme’ experiment, he
has gained 11.25kg, his cholesterol
has risen by sixty-five points, he
has doubled his risk of heart
disease, and he has a fatty liver
described as ‘pâté’ by the GP.
Issues raised in the film…
The following issues are raised in the
film. Discuss what you think the film is
going to show you.
• The balance between corporate and personal
responsibility for the food we eat.
• The effect of advertising and brand imprinting on
young children.
• School canteens and the foods they serve
• How children’s exercise patterns have changed
since the last generation.
About Morgan Spurlock…
A graduate of the New York University’s
Tisch School of the Arts, Super Size Me is
Morgan Spurlock’s first feature film. He was
inspired to make the documentary after
watching a news story about two teenagers
suing McDonald’s.
Super Size Me is the first ever realitybased movie where everything begins and
ends in 30 days. The camera captures the
director’s highs and lows as he sets out on
his
unhealthy diet and demonstrates to the
viewers the effects of eating fast food.
Morgan Spurlock cont...
During his career Spurlock has conceived
and created everything from commercials
to music videos to television shows, and
has worked with MTV, ESPN, NBC, FOX,
TNT and VH-1. He is also the founder of
The Con, the New York based production
company behind the film.
Super Size Me cost £37,000 ($65,000)
which is a small budget for a film that had
such a large impact. The documentary won
over twenty-seven awards and prestigious
accolades including Best Director,
Sundance Film Festival and New Director
Award, Edinburgh International Film
Festival 2004.
Key facts from the film (1)...
• Each day, 1 in 4 Americans visits a fast food restaurant
• In 1972, we spent $3 billion a year on fast food - today we
spend more than $110 billion
• McDonald's feeds more than 46 million people a day - more
than the entire population of Spain
• French fries are the most eaten vegetable in America
• You would have to walk for seven hours straight to burn off a
Super Sized Coke, fries and Big Mac
• In the U.S., we eat more than 1,000,000 animals an hour
• 60 percent of all Americans are either overweight or obese
• One in every three children born in the year 2000 will develop
diabetes in their lifetime
Key facts from the film (2)...
• Left unabated, obesity will surpass smoking as the leading
cause of preventable death in America
• Obesity has been linked to: Hypertension, Coronary Heart
Disease, Adult Onset Diabetes, Stroke, Gall Bladder Disease,
Osteoarthritis, Sleep Apnea, Respiratory Problems,
Endometrial, Breast, Prostate and Colon Cancers,
Dyslipidemia, steatohepatitis, insulin resistance,
breathlessness, Asthma, Hyperuricaemia, reproductive
hormone abnormalities, polycystic ovarian syndrome,
impaired fertility and lower back pain
• The average child sees 10,000 TV advertisements per year
• Only seven items on McDonald's entire menu contain no
sugar
• Willard Scott was the first Ronald McDonald - he was fired for
being too fat
Key facts from the film (3)...
• McDonald's distributes more toys per year than Toys-R-Us
• Diabetes will cut 17-27 years off your life
• McDonald's: "Any processing our foods undergo make them more
dangerous than unprocessed foods"
• The World Health Organization has declared obesity a global epidemic
• McDonald's calls people who eat a lot of their food "heavy users"
• McDonald's operates more than 30,000 restaurants in more then 100
countries on 6 continents
• Before most children can speak they can recognize McDonald's
• Surgeon General David Satcher: "Fast food is a major contributor to
the obesity epidemic"
• Nutritionists recommend not eating fast food more than once a month
• 40 percent of American meals are eaten outside the home
• McDonald's represents 43% of total U.S. fast food market
McDonalds’ reaction to the film…
• The company has called the documentary “a super-sized
distortion of the quality, choice and variety available at
McDonald’s.”
• It says the film is not about McDonald’s but about
Spurlock’s decision to act irresponsibly by eating 5,000
calories a day — “a gimmick to make a film.”
• After the film was made, McDonalds phased out and
then completely removed the “supersize” option. Walt
Riker, Vice President of Communications said the
phasing out of super-sizing has “nothing to do with
that (film) whatsoever.”