CSR at the Movies - Supersize Me in 7 Minutes

This movie clip might be a useful lesson stimulus for colleagues and students examining the issue of rising adult and childhood obesity in the context of corporate social responsibility. The movie in question is Super Size Me, a documentary film directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. Spurlock’s film follows a 30-day period from February 1 to March 2, 2003 during which he eats only McDonald’s food.

The film documents this lifestyle’s drastic effects on Spurlock’s physical and psychological well-being, and explores the fast food industry’s corporate influence, including how it may encourage poor nutritional habits in return for generating higher revenues and profits. The film makes pretty uncomfortable viewing and it may put you off fast food for a while!

Here’s how the experiment behind the film took place. Spurlock dined at McDonald’s restaurants three times per day, eating every item on the chain’s menu. He would always choose to “super-size” his meal if he was offered by a McDonald’s employee. Spurlock consumed an average of 5,000 kcal (the equivalent of 9.26 Big Macs) per day during the experiment. As a result, the then-32-year-old Spurlock gained 24½ lbs. (11.1 kg), a 13% body mass increase, a cholesterol level of 230, and experienced mood swings, sexual dysfunction, and fat accumulation to his liver. It took Spurlock fourteen months to lose the weight gained from his experiment. [source: wikipedia]

Here is the edited seven-minute excerpt of Morgan Spurlocks’ supersize-me experiment.