Response to Supersize Me
KC McAuliffe
A few years ago two teenage girls tried to sue McDonalds for the cause of their
gain in weight and health issues. Morgan Spurlock got an idea; he planned to eat
McDonalds and only McDonalds for thirty days. Morgan wanted to explore whether
eating McDonalds for thirty days would affect his health or weight. He also could not
exercise any more then the average American. Throughout his film he is trying to show
the viewers what the effects of eating too much fast food could do to your health. He
shows the lack of nutritious value that almost everything on the McDonalds menu has.
Spurlock uses three main persuasive techniques throughout his documentary: logos which
supplies logical information to prove a point, ethos where you get the audience to trust
what you are saying by getting a reliable source, and pathos which makes the viewer feel
different emotions while watching persuading them in a certain direction. He used a
perfect combination of all of theses during the film to get the viewers to not want to visit
McDonalds ever again.
Using facts, statistics, and other true information throughout Morgan’s
documentary helped the viewers understand how the bad eating habits many people
encounter with fast foods, dramatically affect their bodies. At the beginning of the film
Morgan states many facts introducing the problem of obesity in America and how fast
food companies are a major contributing factor. Did you know that over 100 million
Americans are obese? Or that one in four people visit fast food restaurants everyday?
What about that everyday 46 million people eat McDonalds worldwide? These
astonishing numbers get the viewers to realize how large this problem truly is. Morgan
gave nutrition information about some of the foods McDonalds has on their menu.
Spurlock showed that Supersized Fries are 600 calories. That is almost half the number of
calories you should eat in one day! During his thirty day experiment doctors gave
information on how his body ‘s health and weight was changing rapidly. In the first five
days of his new diet he gained 5 pounds resulting in a total weight gain of 25 pounds over
the full thirty days. Not only did eating McDonalds foods have a physical affect on his
health but it also had a mental affect. Morgan started to become addicted to the food he
seemed depressed when he was not eating then when he did eat he felt much better and
wanted to just keep on eating. This helped explain how McDonalds’s food causes many
people to gain weight and become addicted to the food wanting to eat it all of the time
even though most nutritionists say to either not eat fast food at all or eat it scarcely such
as once or twice a month.
Not only did he use nutritionists to show how bad this food is for you he also used
many other reliable people to add ethos as a persuasion technique. Before he started his
McDonalds frenzy Morgan visited a cardiologist, gastroenterologist, and a physician so
that the viewers could believe and have proof of how physically fit he was instead of just
taking his word for it. They developed the test results and found that Morgan was
healthier and in better shape then the average male his age. He was incredibly health to
start, this way he could show the differences his strict diet would cause. Spurlock did not
just eat the whole day he also interviewed many people along the way. This huge
problem of obesity in the United States didn’t start happening until the fast food
industries came in says a lawyer that had been on the case of the teenage girls that were
suing McDonalds for their gain in weight and health issues. He interviewed four first
graders, he held up pictures of famous people to see if the children could identify them, 3
out of the 4 could name George Washington. Then a new picture was held up not one of
them knew that the picture they were looking at was Jesus. A third picture was held up
and every one of the first graders recognized the familiar face of Ronald McDonald.
Children are being targeted by the advertisements of McDonalds restaurants with the red
and yellow clown that is posted with every single sign, store, or commercial. America’s
youth is becoming overweight due to the advertisements drawing them into the different
fast food restaurants with the clowns or other kid friendly mascots and toys that come
with kid’s meals. McDonalds knows what the kids will want in order to come and eat.
What kid wouldn’t want to get a toy with their meal or a visit a friendly clown?
Morgan Spurlock used many different photographs to get emotional responses
from the viewers on aspects of the famous McDonalds that most people don’t see. He
adds frightening photos of different types of clowns trying to get people not to think of
Ronald McDonald as fun and friendly but instead as terrifying and unwelcoming. Since
he is the symbol of the McDonalds Company, Spurlock wants to associate him with
things that customers do not like to try and turn them away from purchasing foods there.
Not only are kids affected by McDonalds advertisements but adults are too maybe even
more! Morgan went and asked three women on the street to recite the Pledge of
Allegiance and they tried four times without being able to fully say it, yet when he asked
the women to sing the old McDonalds advertisement rap they could sing it on the first try
with out hesitating. This truly said something to the viewers showing how the importance
of patriotism came after McDonalds in these women’s lives. It was truly alarming to see
that coming from women too not just young children. Morgan purposely used startling
photos to get the attention of the viewers such as a French fry that was lit at one end and
lying on top of an ashtray. This used a transfer method relating eating too much fast food
to smoking. This was displayed with the fact that smoking is the number one cause of
death and obesity is second. Many people do not realize how serious this matter is and
that it causes many peoples’ death. That is why this picture brought so much emotion to
Spurlock’s documentary seeing that too much McDonalds cold have very serious
consequences.
Although seeing these images definitely affected my views of the fast food
industry I thought that the most convincing appeal was logos. After hearing the facts and
proven information about McDonalds many other companies it really changed my
opinions. It made me realize about how extremely unhealthy the food there is, even the
chicken salad had the same amount of calories as the Big Mac. The fast food industry has
fooled people for years and now after people see this moving documentary the customers
finally get the truth and are aware of the foods that they are consuming from these
restaurants. I never eat fast food very often and now I am very glad of that I think that
others should try and reduce the amount of fast food they eat as well. Morgan Spurlock
presented a very convincing argument to get people to want to stop or reduce the amount
of visits they make to McDonalds with his combination of appeals packed into his
documentary.