Super Size Me

Or rather don't....

Just saw Super Size Me (imdb)...

It was very good, although with me its message was preaching to the converted. Essentially the message was - McDs (note the child aimed marketing on their website) and the other fast food that we eat is exceptionally bad for us, and that we as a world society are becoming seriously unhealthy from it. No argument here.

The film focussed very much on the human aspects, predominantly the health issues with the food, and its consumption, but also the effect of marketing and the profit motivated disregard for all else.

There was barely a mention of the more questionable corporate policies of the companies involved, or more importantly the animal rights issues, and general environmental issues that revolve around the preprocessed, mass produced cack that they produce. But too be honest, that was prudent. If you want to get the publics' attention, go for what they care about: themselves.

They did focus heavily, sorry for the pun, on schools and general US dietary trends. All rather worrying and concerning.

However the film has had some results, McDs stopped offering Super-Size after it was released, and a number of states banned soft drinks in schools. Hooray!

I am pleased to see McDonalds joining the debate with their website: http://www.supersizeme-thedebate.co.uk/ - this is good. They obviously defend themselves and say that their meals are not unhealthy as part of a balanced diet and eaten in moderation, which is reasonably accurate, but not compelling. They end their spiel with...

What can't change overnight is people's perceptions, but we would like to think that in 5 to 10 years time we may be as famous for our salads, our fruit or our organic food as we are for our Hamburgers

Call me sceptical, but I doubt that.

As always if you eat a lot of fast food, a good first step is to cut out the soft drinks, they are saturated with sugar and various other nasties.

Oh, the man who made this film, his girlfriend - she's a vegan health chef. I can't believe she sat and watched him do that, I suppose the goal is the thing. Personally I wouldn't of been able to hack it. Long live vegan chefs, may they multiply.