Super Size Me.

[royphil345]

Coating something in oil is a well known method of preventing reaction with air and preserving things. The fact that the fries were also heated, dehydrated and sterilized when being coated with oil further deflates the "mystery". ALL very good (and harmless) methods of preserving things (canned foods, dried fruit, beef jerky, etc....).

Another fine example of how people so easily accept the meaningless as being meaningful these days... only because the "information" is presented as being meaningful. Like I said... This movie takes people's ignorance for granted and capitalizes on it. This movie proves absolutely nothing except that eating 6000 calories a day of ANYTHING is bad for you. Anything else you think you get out of this movie is simply because you've been taken for a ride. That's exactly what I dislike about it... and I guess the fact that it was so effective on so many people bothers me...

Also... When they insinuate the results of a 6000 calorie a day diet means anything at all about a certain type of food... or food from a certain place... or the french fry experiment means anything... That's just plain lying. They made money by taking a stab at Mc Donalds and a stab at the public's gullibility. They twisted the truth. It's just plain evil.

[nightflier]

Coating something in oil is a well known method of preventing reaction with air and preserving things. The fact that the fries were also heated, dehydrated and sterilized when being coated with oil further deflates the "mystery". ALL very good (and harmless) methods of preserving things (canned foods, dried fruit, beef jerky, etc....).

Another fine example of how people so easily accept the meaningless as being meaningful these days... only because the "information" is presented as being meaningful. Like I said... This movie takes people's ignorance for granted and capitalizes on it. This movie proves absolutely nothing except that eating 6000 calories a day of ANYTHING is bad for you. Anything else you think you get out of this movie is simply because you've been taken for a ride. That's exactly what I dislike about it... and I guess the fact that it was so effective on so many people bothers me...

Also... When they insinuate the results of a 6000 calorie a day diet means anything at all about a certain type of food... or food from a certain place... or the french fry experiment means anything... That's just plain lying. They made money by taking a stab at Mc Donalds and a stab at the public's gullibility. They twisted the truth. It's just plain evil.

How much Mickey D's stock do you own?

For many people, this movie is necessary. It needs to be made as simple and as mind-numbingly repetitive as this movie made it. Most intelligent people have stopped eating at MD's years ago, not only because of the quality of the food, but also because of a whole laundry list of bad labor practices from disrupting foreign economies to the violent and cruel meat processing in the plants they buy from. Bottom line is this movie was for the people who actually eat there, the average consumer who is working two jobs and does not have time to pack a fresh balanced organically grown lunch everyday.

For the rest of us, this movie is preaching to the choir, no doubt, but that's why there's plenty of other sources for info such as Fast Food Nation, The Jungle, as mentioned above. That MD's is changing many of it's profit-not-people-oriented practices is no doubt a result of the bad publicity this movie generated for them - there was probably a huge drop in sales after it came out.

What most people fail to understand is that while MD's is the epitome of a bad place to eat, most of the rest of the fast-food places are just as bad. From Fat Burgers to Burger King to Wendy's, these places are where America has lunch and there's very little that's good to eat. I'll even go further and say than most chain restaurants from Chili's to BajaFresh to Coco's (and I've worked at quite a few of them), are not much more than cafeterias that charge more than they should for very similar food because they want people to think that they are better. Fast prepared food, no matter how well intended, is going to be bad for a certain percentage of the people who eat there. The narrower the profit margins, the worse the food - that's just simple math. The reality is that choices are very limited if you only have 45 minutes to eat.

Just ask yourself this: is there a place near your work other than a grocery store where you can find a fresh apple on the menu? Find a beverage other than Soda or Iced Tea? Eat fresh vegetables like spinach, celery, and broccoli? Let me put it in terms everyone here can understand: imagine a world were Sony, JVC, and RCA were the only brands to choose from and if you had the money, you might just be able to find a pair of Bose speakers, but all along you would still know that it's mostly crap.

[royphil345]

Nightflier...

"Most intelligent people have stopped eating at MD's years ago"... Most intelligent people would do some kind of study before making a claim like that.

"disrupting foreign economies"... Somebody let them in to line their own pockets... Mc Donald's has no troops to invade. I've heard complaints that Mc Donalds damages foreign cultures, never that it damages economies. Obviously, If any community really hated their Mc Donald's as a whole... the store would go out of business.

"That MD's is changing many of it's profit-not-people-oriented practices"... LOL Yeah... All of corporate America is heading in that direction... LOL

"a result of the bad publicity this movie generated for them - there was probably a huge drop in sales after it came out."... Doubt it...


I don't own stock in MC Ds... But, do you get all your "facts" from drivel like this... or just make them up? I don't understand why you'd want to call me out by name and try to beat me up instead of just simply sharing your opinion... especially if this is all you've got. Maybe you need a little protein.

[Smokey]

I think royphil345 and nightflier both have good points.

This argument remind of critical review I saw on this DVD from Amazon which the reviewer said that corn is a healthy food, but if that is all we had to eat for 30 years, we would die also. So common sense and moderation might be the best approach to healthy eating.

But as nightflier said-with todays rush life style and hectic schedule, that might not be so easy especially at lunch time. Unless you are lucky enough to have cafeteria close by, the lunch choices will be limited to local fast food chains down the street.

[nightflier]

Your arguments about choice are valid, but there's no need for personal attacks. If you want to go a few rounds, I can do the dance, but I think that your examples won't hold up to the majority of the evidence about the devastating impact that fast food, and especially MD's has had on society. So you want answers, here you go (and don't go dismissing these sources as having some political slant, there's plenty of research behind them).

"Most intelligent people have stopped eating at MD's years ago"... Most intelligent people would do some kind of study before making a claim like that.

There is a widespread awareness that fast food is bad for people. You even see it in public schools, commercials and public service announcements. You should probably start with this website: http://www.informedeating.org/faqsonfoodpolitics.html, that addresses you question. The book Fast Food nation is also an excellent source.

"disrupting foreign economies"... Somebody let them in to line their own pockets... Mc Donald's has no troops to invade. I've heard complaints that Mc Donalds damages foreign cultures, never that it damages economies. Obviously, If any community really hated their Mc Donald's as a whole... the store would go out of business.

I meant to say that McDonald's does it's share of disrupting local economies. Collectively with the likes of Coca Cola, ADM, Nike, Pfizer and the rest of the bunch, it has it's impact. And, by the way, having an impact on the environment (http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0406-greenpeace.html), also affects local economies. But if you need something more specific, take a look at this article: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~salaff/Watson.pdf. Interestingly, it also addresses why the store doesn't "go out of business." It's because they supplant higher-quality foods for more convenient foods.

"That MD's is changing many of it's profit-not-people-oriented practices"... LOL Yeah... All of corporate America is heading in that direction... LOL

I'm talking about the fast food industry, no need to go off on tangents. And actually, the fast food industry is changing. There are literally hundreds of websites that describe improvements in the quality of food that have occurred in the last three years (since the movie came out), even the companies themselves post this stuff. But here's a couple, just so we both know that this isn't just "drivel": http://www.umich.edu/~nppcpub/resour.../CORPcaseA.pdf and http://www.ameinfo.com/25347.html. And companies like Subway are reaping the rewards (http://www.allbusiness.com/manufactu...2974554-234800)

"a result of the bad publicity this movie generated for them - there was probably a huge drop in sales after it came out."... Doubt it...

Well, you can start by doing a wiki search for SuperSize Me. But let's take a look at what happened when the movie came out, in early 2004. Guess what? The stock price took a hit (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=MCD&t=5y). Then when the DVD came out, in early 2005, guess what? MCD stumbled again. All the company execs can stand there and tell you otherwise, but this movie caught them with their pants down.

I don't own stock in MC Ds... But, do you get all your "facts" from drivel like this... or just make them up? I don't understand why you'd want to call me out by name and try to beat me up instead of just simply sharing your opinion... especially if this is all you've got. Maybe you need a little protein.

This is a pretty personal attack, I would say. Maybe you should read Fast Food Nation?