Super Size Me Star Continues
Anti-Food Attack; Will Also Target Religion in New Show
Morgan Spurlock overate himself into
stardom and took a bite out of McDonalds at the same time. Now hes
got a TV show, and its sure to be offensive.
By Amy Menefee [1]
April 18, 2005
As Ronald McDonald would testify, youd
better watch yourself when Morgan Spurlock comes calling. He
famously ate nothing but McDonalds food for a month and filmed
himself getting fatter and going to the doctor to get his ensuing
health problems documented. The film that resulted, Super Size Me,
was widely hailed by Hollywood and the media as serious commentary
on Americas obesity epidemic while others criticized his film as
a lesson in why obesity lawsuits are so frivolous.
Like Michael Moore, Spurlocks agenda-driven camera
work has been accepted by many as documentary. He has two new
projects furthering his anti-establishment crusade a book and a TV
show. His new book, Dont Eat This Book: Fast Food and the
Supersizing of America, comes out May 19. A Publishers Weekly
review posted on Amazon.com says, Spurlock describes America's
obesity epidemic, its relation to the fast food industry, the
industry's cozy relations to U.S. government agencies and how the
problem is spreading worldwide.
Of course, obesity has no intrinsic relation to the
fast food industry, but the media flock to connections between the
two, as the Business & Media Institute has documented in studies such as
our Supersized
Bias [2] and Supersized
Bias II [3].
Spurlock wrote on his blog that some people seem to
think hes a commie pinko who is trying to steal away you [sic]
right to be a fat American (which couldnt be further from the truth
). He has enjoyed success in the free market and apparently would
graciously allow others to do the same. Consider this a let the
buyer beware when the food industry is taken to task explicitly
or implicitly for the individual choices of overweight consumers.
After all, Spurlock has said himself that the idea for Super Size
Me came from a news report about an anti-McDonalds obesity
lawsuit.
Richard Berman, executive director of the Center for
Consumer Freedom, wrote about Spurlocks previous antics in a March
12, 2004, op-ed: Spurlock recently pontificated that If there's
one thing we could accomplish, it is that we make people think about
what they put in their mouth. This from a guy who once paid people
to eat dog droppings.
Berman, who heads a nonprofit coalition of restaurants
and consumers, was talking about Spurlocks I Bet You Will, which
aired on MTV. In that show, Spurlock paid people to eat all sorts of
disgusting concoctions, including a mixture of hair and butter.
Now Spurlock has a show debuting on the FX cable
channel in June. Titled 30 Days, it is modeled on his idea in
Super Size Me that a persons life can change dramatically in 30
days. The shows pilot features a Christian insurance salesman who
lives with a Muslim family for 30 days. A press release from Actual
Reality Pictures, a production company working on 30 Days, says
the show will place an individual in a living environment that is
antithetical to their upbringing, beliefs, religion or profession.
Topics for the show will span ethnic, religious and economic issues,
the release said. Well be looking for Spurlock to turn a lot more
than the free market on its head in this new show. If history is any
indicator, Spurlock will be pushing the envelope.
To see Richard Bermans op-ed about
Spurlock [4]: