Imagine a man who, to prove a point, decides to consume McDonald’s products exclusively for an entire month. It may sound crazy, but that’s exactly what Morgan Spurlock, who died on May 23 of cancer, did.
With his documentary “Super Size Me” released in 2004, the American director highlighted the harmful effects of fast food on health, but he also shook the economy of this colossal industry.
A kick in the anthill
In the early 2000s, everything was going well for McDonald’s. The American restaurant chain continued its expansion around the world, the first avenues of internationalization of which began thirty years earlier. In 2004, more than 100 countries had at least one McDonald’s on their territory, and the brand was preparing the opening of its first restaurant in Montenegro on June 1st.
On the other side of the Atlantic, three weeks earlier, “Super Size Me” was released in American theaters. A film directed by Morgan Spurlock, which hit the fast food industry hard. The pitch? For 30 days, he subsisted exclusively on McDonald’s products, all the while documenting his deteriorating health. And the result is clear: he gains 11 kg in 30 days, damages his liver and doubles his cholesterol level in his blood.
The film had an immediate and massive impact on the public, which was then very little aware of concerns about public health and obesity. Popular pressure is such that just after the release of the documentary, McDonald’s had no choice but to remove its maximum “Super Size” option (the giant version Editor’s note) from its menus, even though the multinational affirmed at the time that There was no link between this initiative and the release of the film. At the same time, McDonald’s launched salads, wraps and fruit to improve its image and attract more health-conscious customers. Note that other fast-food brands have taken the same step: Wendy’s is removing its “Biggie Size” and Burger King is removing the “King Size” name for its XXL burger.
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Enough to calm public anger? Obviously, not really. Thanks to the film, consumers began to see things differently. A Stanford University study showed that in the three years after the documentary’s release, fast-food sales declined by 1.2% per year. At the same time, the organic food market exploded, growing 17% in 2005. People wanted healthier options, and they were willing to pay for them.
In the three years following the documentary’s release, fast food sales had declined by 1.2% per year. At the same time, the organic food market exploded in 2005.
Repercussions over time
Morgan Spurlock’s spotlight on the dangers of fast food has also had repercussions on business strategies and investor choices. Food companies have been pushed to improve their image and invest in healthier products. PepsiCo, for example, spent more than $500 million between 2005 and 2010 to reduce sugar, salt and fat in its products. Generally speaking, corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs have become a key part of business strategies. A 2016 Harvard Business Review survey found that companies with strong CSR programs outperform those without them by 4% annually.
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Morgan Spurlock has shown that documentary can be a powerful tool for social and economic change. After the success of “Super Size Me,” he co-founded Warrior Poets, a production company that has continued to create provocative and influential content. With this, he released “Super Cash Me”, diving into the world of product placement and marketing in cinema. For this project, he financed his documentary entirely through product placements, revealing behind the scenes of the commercial deals that influence creation in the cinematic universe.
More than ten years later, in 2017, he deepened his investigation of the food industry with “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!”. In this film, he explores the chicken industry in the United States, revealing the deceptive practices of companies to market their products as “healthy” or “natural.”
In parallel with this latest documentary, he opened his own fast-food restaurant, “Holy Chicken!”Everything in the food is made and is certified by our integrity and transparency, including the viability of our project as we raise our own chickens,” assured the director at the opening of the restaurant.
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Until his death, Morgan Spurlock made healthy eating his fight. Do his efforts still have an impact on society? Looking at the WHO figures, the answer seems negative. In 2022, approximately 2.5 billion adults worldwide were overweight. Among them, 890 million were living with obesity. Additionally, fast food giants continue to do well. According to the latest data from Statista, the fast food industry saw a total revenue of $978.4 billion in 2023, up from $967.64 billion the previous year.
, the man who succeeded in bringing down the fast-food industry… by gorging on burgers morning, noon and night){kind=link}