McDonald's to fight film's claims

Sydney Morning Herald by Stephen Dabkowski June 14, 2004

Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me has McDonald's spitting chips.

After weeks of silence, McDonald's is fighting back. The fast food company has launched a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign to counter the documentary Super Size Me.

McDonald's has filmed three commercials, which will begin airing on Tuesday - including one to be shown at cinemas before the movie to dispute some of the film's claims.

They will feature the chief executive of McDonald's Australia, Guy Russo, and will claim it was "stupid" for the film's star, Morgan Spurlock, to eat only McDonald's food for 30 days.

"No one eats McDonald's food three times a day, every day, and no one should," Mr Russo said. "We believe, and have always believed, that . . . McDonald's can be eaten as part of a well-balanced diet."

"What Mr Spurlock set out to do, which was to double his daily calorie intake, deliberately not exercise and over-eat, was totally irresponsible."

Mr Spurlock claims he consumed 13.5 kilograms of fat, increasing his weight by 11.25 kilograms.

McDonald's Australia is the first McDonald's in the world to use advertising to attack the movie publicly. Until now the strategy has been to ignore it, but recent research from customers indicated that McDonald's silence might be taken as an admission of guilt.