Supersize Me - Conceptual Analysis

Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me explores the concept of obesity-by-fast-food among Americans. He also argues that it is the responsibility of the consumers to resist the addictive, available fast food we are trained as children to love. There are a few definitions to consider. In the film, fast food is considered any food that is ordered at a counter and served within minutes of the order. There are commonly accepted examples of fast food: Wendy, Burger King, KFC, Popeye’s Chicken, and of course McDonalds. Obesity is defined as the state of Americans being overweight to an unhealthy degree. Fast food is portrayed in the movie to be the main cause of obesity and other obesity-driven conditions such as diabetes. Spurlock’s argument is well supported with statistics, consumer and industry professional testimonies, and an indisputable field study experiment: a month-long McDonalds binge, or McDiet.

Though Spurlock provokes fear of fast food, he fails to acknowledge that poor diet is not the only cause of obesity, and that the “toxic environment” he describes is reason enough to consider that the responsibility should in fact be in the corporation’s hands. If children are lured in by kids meal toys and play places, it is curious that as adults consumers are expected to abandon their life-long beliefs that fast food is a nice part of their lives. Instead, they are expected to be responsible for their declining health and do the unthinkable: exercise.

Spurlock engrains the message that fast food is dangerous with statistics. Children view up to 10 000 food-related advertisements each year, ninety-five percent of which are for sugary cereals, snacks, candy, pop, and other junk food. One in four McDonalds had no nutrition information available to consumers, yet the population is expected to make the right healthy choices (Spurlock). Adding support to his argument that fast food is adversely harmful is a list of credited health care professionals and nutritionists, each of whom were shocked by the outcome of the experiment. After summarizing that fast food companies are simply businesses whose main goal is to make money, Spurlock claims that the liability should not be on the fast food industry to stop the trend of obesity in America; they have the right to pursue better business. He places the sole responsibility on the consumer, stating “Who do you want to see go first? You or them?”

I, on the other hand, place at least half of the responsibility to put a significant dent in stopping the problem of ever-rising obesity rates in America on the fast food industry. While I agree with Morgan Spurlock that we as consumers must take responsibility for our own health and obesity issues, I do not agree that it is not up to fast food corporations to prevent America from growing even unhealthier. Without prompt action I do not consider it unreasonable to require corporations to take measures to make children aware that while the fast food experience is fun, the food is not meant to be a staple in their diet.

McDonalds and other fast food corporations are universally known for their less-than-nutritious ingredient lists. This poses the question : Why do we still eat there? The answer is simple. As is acknowledged in Super Size Me, children are lured into lifelong affairs with fast food from a young age. It is hard to resist the good feelings that accompany the toy with a kids’ meal, or the Playplace offered at McDonalds restaurants worldwide. Trips out for fast food are practically a cultural rite of passage for children. They continue on to be teenagers craving the McDeals and other deep fried and processed delights, fueled by McDonalds advertisements on their student planners, and catchy pop artist commercials with jingles that make stopping by the drive through irresistible.

As someone who values maintaining at least a basic standard of healthy living, I can accept that part of the responsibility is on consumers like myself to know how much fast food is healthy and when to say no to the Super Size option. It certainly should be up to consumers to police their own eating and dietary habits and needs. Unfortunately, billion-dollar fast food corporations prey on the weak, increasingly lazy nature of Americans and other consumers to lesser degrees. They are well attuned to the fact that most people would like to have a tasty, sugary, high fat meal “cooked” for them rather than prepare a wholesome meal for themselves.