Super size me Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Super size me - Essay Example Over a 30-day period, Spurlock further stops any and all exercise routines to further reflect the impact of McDonalds foods on human physiology. Outside of the physical effects, the film illustrates how the media impacts consumers to reflect what Spurlock believes is an unacceptable method of coercing Americans to indulge in fast food. Throughout the course of the film, Spurlock examines several decades worth of television commercials released by McDonalds since the 1970s, in order to depict how the media is able to coerce both children and adults into eating at the fast food chain. These commercials depict playful animated characters, who dance and sing with the prospect of being taken to McDonalds to indulge in greasy food (Sowers, 2006). From a psychological perspective, Spurlock comes to realize that McDonalds is using visual imagery, in the pursuit of stimulating a pleasurable connection between the fast food company and its menu items. Further, in the film, the well-known character, Ronald McDonald, is shown as a leader to children, engaging in pleasurable activities such as community basketball and various sporting events. This tends to indicate, to a less-sophisticated person in terms of identifying media influences, that McDonalds is a community-minded organization and that implicit trust should be given to the chain because of their charming spokesperson. Outside of the visual imagery, Spurlock further points out non-print media attempts to build a stronger loyalty to McDonalds with the insertion of signs and banners, all over the United States (and released by McDonalds), which promote the need to super size meals. Supersizing involves increasing the food portions by a significant margin, thus increasing the fat and caloric value of the food. Though Spurlock is somewhat biased in his approach to the film, he maintains a