Super Size Me Page #6

where they just had something

rolling in the background.

You kept seeing

the same buildings go by.

It's like

K-Mart, Wal-Mart, McDonald's,

K-Mart, Wal-Mart,

Wendy's, K-Mart.

And it's like you have no sense

of where you're at anymore.

The way I look at it

is Cezanne was inspired

by the mountain he saw

out his window,

and when I look out my window,

I see no mountains.

I just see billboards

and advertisements,

so I use that as my inspiration.

The average American child

sees 10,000 food advertisements

per year on television.

95% of those

are for sugared cereals,

soft drinks,

fast foods, or candy.

A parent who eats

every meal every day

for the whole year

with their child

and at every meal gives a very

compelling nutrition message

and can bring in cartoon

characters and Michael Jordan --

so instead

of selling McDonald's,

he sells oranges --

and Britney spears,

instead of selling Pepsi

will sell radishes

or lettuce or something --

that parents will have

1,000 cracks at their child,

compared to 10,000

for the food industry.

So it's not a fair fight.

By the time kids

are able to speak,

most of them can say

"McDonald's."

I'm gonna

show you some pictures,

and I want you

to tell me who they are.

Okay.

Who's that?

You don't know?

Abraham Lincoln.

Who is he?

He was

the Sixteenth President.

He freed the slaves.

And he could

never tell a lie.

Who's that?

Don't know.

I don't know.

No.

I don't know.

George W. Bush?

No. That's

a good guess, though.

Who is this?

I don't know.

Goldilocks?

I forgot the name,

but I think I know.

Yeah?

where have you seen her?

That picture

is on the sign.

Wendy.

Who's that?

McDonald,

Ronald McDonald.

Who is it?

McDonald.

What does he do?

He was helping people

at the cash register.

He works at McDonald's.

I love their pancakes

and sausage.

He brings all his friends

to McDonald's

for a happy meal.

Where have you seen him?

On television,

on the commercials.

He's the character

that made McDonald's,

and he does a lot

of funny stuff on TV.

Companies spend billions

making sure

you know their product.

In 2001,

on direct media advertising --

that's radio,

television, and print --

McDonalds spent

$1.4 billion worldwide.

On direct media advertising,

Pepsi spent

more than $1 billion.

To advertise its candy,

Hershey foods spent under a mere

$200 million internationally.

In its peak year, the "5 a day"

fruit and vegetable campaign's

total advertising budget

in all media

was a lowly $2 million,

100 times less than

just the direct media budget

of one candy company.

Think about the way

food is marketed --

T-shirts, coupons,

toys for children,

giveaways in fast-food places,

place mats,

just all of the different ways

in which food marketing

is ubiquitous.

The most heavily advertised

foods are consumed the most.

No surprise.

Thank you. Come again.

Welcome to McDonald's!

Tomato concentrate,

distilled vinegar,

high-fructose corn syrup --

high-fructose corn syrup

and corn syrup.

That means sugar.

Im gonna move over

to my salad shaker.

I feel a little sick

to my stomach.

This is the best part

of the day --

when I get to be fat on the bed

with my quart of coke.

People eat out a lot,

and so if there aren't healthy

foods available at restaurants,

and there isn't

good nutrition information,

it makes eating out difficult.

McDonald's says

nutrition information

for all their products

is available on-line,

but according

to the 2000 U.S. census,

more than half of all U.S. homes

still don't have

internet access.

So, what are these people

supposed to do?

Go to the stores

for nutrition information?

Is that information even there?

I went to find out.

Do you guys have any

of the nutrition fact sheets?

Do you guys have one of those?

The things that fold out and

have the nutrition info in them?

There aren't

any over there?

Where would they be?

Up front?

But they got lots of info

about "Dora the explorer live!"

Let me check in the back.

That's cool.

Thank you.

Just give me one second.

I can't find the booklet.

You can use the one

right there on the wall.

But you don't have ones

you can take with you?

No.

Do you guys have

one on the wall?

They only have fliers now.

We had one before.

They don't put it up no more.

Why not?

I don't know.

Only half the McDonald's in

Manhattan had the nutrition info

posted on the wall,

some had

the takeaway nutrition charts,

and one in four

had no information whatsoever.

This nice manager brought me

the nutrition wall chart --

from the basement.

You don't have one

that I could take with me,

like a takeaway?

Do you know when you'll have

some of the paper ones again?

No.

John Banzhaf and I looked

all over this McDonald's

in Washington

for any nutritional information,

and then we found it.

Behind here --

you'd never see it.

It's right back there.

You can't argue

that people should exercise

personal responsibility

and then not give them

the information

on which to base it.

I got my chicken group.

There's no chicken group.

That's my cholesterol group.

It's protein.

I got my protein group.

Carbohydrates.

I got my meat group.

You got meat, meat,

sugar, and fat.

I officially had to loosen

my belt the other day.

I had to go a notch lower.

One notch?

It was scary.

Im an old pro at this now.

You'll get sick of this, too,

though.

Your girlfriend

must be loving you.

She hates me.

Thank you. Bye-bye.

I averaged out all the calories

for the last nine days,

and you're still eating

over 200%

of what your needs are.

I suggest you cut out

all the liquids

that you're drinking

from McDonald's,

except for water.

A lot of people,

if they're obese,

and they lose 10%

of their body weight,

it's beneficial.

It can be beneficial in terms

of blood pressure and so on,

so gaining 10%

of your body weight

maybe could be

equally non-beneficial.

Here we go.

Second weigh-in.

What do you think, Eric?

203?

About 202, 203.

I think you almost got 10%

of your body weight gained,

so you've pretty much gained 17 pounds

in 12 days.

You better slow down.

Im telling you,

don't drink your calories.

I told him no more shakes,

no more coke,

no more double burgers.

The staff here's

calling you "burger boy."

It's starting to get

dangerous now, man.

Im getting

nervous for you.

The one place where the impact

of our fast-food world

has become more and more evident

is in our nation's schools.

Can I get a shot

of your lunch right there?

this is where schools

turn a blind eye.

The student

with the French fries

probably brought a bag lunch

with real food.

The girl with the chips

is probably sharing them

with someone else.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Barbara brown

is the field representative

for Sodexho, one of

the countless lowest bidders

that school districts

have farmed out

Rate this script:4.3 / 4 votes