When it comes to criticism, Morgan
Spurlock, director of "Super Size Me," can dish it out, but he sure
can't take it. Ask him a tough question, and he turns to blubber.
Suddenly, journalists are beginning
to catch on to the fact that his documentary, which has received fawning
reviews, is actually a repulsive and dishonest piece of puerile entertainment
-- vomit and rectal exams tarted up with sociology and politics.
On Monday, Maria Bartiromo nailed
him on CNBC. He was reduced to a fool. It was beautiful to watch.
Spurlock has refused consistently
to confront his critics, including me. But now, he is finding that smart
reporters are wising up to him, rather than tossing the softballs he
was used to getting from Katie Couric and the like.
Just to remind….
In "Super Size Me," Spurlock consumes
more than 5,000 calories a day at McDonald's -- twice the level necessary
to maintain his weight -- for 30 days straight. He eats the daily equivalent
of NINE Big Macs every day. That's three at breakfast, three at lunch
and three at dinner. Or 18 hamburgers. And he doesn't exercise. The
result: He gains 24 pounds and feels miserable. Duh!
He could have eaten 5,000 calories
at the best health-food restaurant in st1:State w:st="on">New
York and suffered the same consequences.
He sends a terrible message to America:
Obesity is not your responsibility. It's the fault of greedy corporations.
Don't forget that Spurlock's old TV
show, "I Bet You Will," paid contestants money to performing disgusting
culinary acts like eating live cockroaches. Here, it's Spurlock who
gets paid.
Spurlock believes that moviegoers
are dumb enough to think that it's McDonald's that made him fat -- rather
than the amount of food he consumed and his slothful habits.
Take a look at these excerpts from
Bartiromo's interview and see what happens when someone challenges Spurlock:
CNBC:
Special Report With Maria Bartiromo
Monday, May 24, 2004
MARIA BARTIROMO, host: Welcome back to SPECIAL REPORT.
When you have a dish as big and as juicy as a Big Mac and you eat it
every day, you're going to gain weight. And when you go after a target
that's as big and juicy as McDonald's, you're going to attract publicity.
My next guest did both very well. After eating nothing but McDonald's
for a whole month, writer and director Morgan Spurlock ended up with
an extra 24 pounds and an award-winning documentary. I sat down with
Spurlock….
MORGAN SPURLOCK: Well, I mean, the thing is--is I never really--the--the--you
know, the film is not about McDonald's. McDonald's in the film is iconic
of a problem. McDonald's is there because they are the one that is the
largest, the one whose marketing practices are most insidious, the one
who, you know, continues to branch out in more countries than anywhere
else in the world. You know, so I picked them as--as a symbol of--of
our lifestyle and a symbol of what's happening. So...
BARTIROMO: Some skeptics have done the math.
Mr. SPURLOCK: Sure.
BARTIROMO: And they say there's no way that you can conclude eating
three full meals a day...
Mr. SPURLOCK: Yeah.
BARTIROMO: ...at McDonald's would get you anywhere close to 5,000 calories
a day. Were you snacking? Were you eating something else?
Mr. SPURLOCK: Of course I--of course. Do you have a snack in the afternoon?
We all get snacks in the afternoon. You have lunch and then later in
the afternoon you're like, 'Wow, you know what? I'm a little tired.
I'm going to get a cup of coffee. I'm going to get an apple pie. You
know, I'm going to go get--I'm going to get a muffin.' You know, we
all go get coffee in the afternoon or some--something to tide us over
until dinner so, you know, it's not unrealistic. And the fact is--and
I love the other thing they say. They say, 'Nobody eats like this. Nobody'...
BARTIROMO: But that is--that is a fair complaint. Nobody does eat like
that.
Mr. SPURLOCK: Well, isn't--you--but here's--you don't eat three meals
a day--but I have...
BARTIROMO: And certainly you don't eat three McDonald's meal a day and
then have apple pie.
Mr. SPURLOCK: But I have friends. I have friends who get up in the morning
and they'll go to McDonald's and they'll get an Egg McMuffin and a hash
brown and a coffee and a juice. And for lunch, they go get Wendy's and
they'll get--you know, they'll get burgers and fries, and then they'll
go home and for dinner, they order Domino's. This is a consistent lifestyle
in America.
So as unrealistic as the argument is--they say it's so unrealistic--people
eat like this. People like to eat like this in America
every day, and it's so rooted in our lifestyle of wanting things on
the go, of wanting it quickly. And the film is very representative of
what will happen to you over a 20-, 30-, 40-year period of time. What
happened to me in this small window where I started to develop--you
know, I started to develop liver problems, you know, heart disease,
you know, all these things that I was on a path to getting will happen
to you over--over a 20-, 30-, 40-year time….
BARTIROMO: What about this woman--she's a competitor, actually, of yours--Soso
Wiley.
Mr. SPURLOCK: Yeah.
BARTIROMO: OK. She's also doing a film. She ate McDonald's just the
way you did.
Mr. SPURLOCK: Sure. Yeah.
BARTIROMO: Only McDonald's.
Mr. SPURLOCK: How great is that?
BARTIROMO: And sh--she lost 10 pounds.
Mr. SPURLOCK: How great is that, that this film has so inspired someone
that they wanted to go out--and I think there's like three or four other
people that are going out and doing their own McDonald's diets, you
know, to do this.
BARTIROMO: OK, but that's her point.
Mr. SPURLOCK: Yeah.
BARTIROMO: She only ate McDonald's.
Mr. SPURLOCK: Yeah.
BARTIROMO: Sh--the documentary's coming out in a couple months.
Mr. SPURLOCK: Let's--OK. Let's--let's talk...
BARTIROMO: She lost 10 pounds.
Mr. SPURLOCK: Here's--here's--let's...
BARTIROMO: Does that discount your idea?
Mr. SPURLOCK: Let's--where--here, let's read her diary, what she says
in her diary. And she writes online where she says, 'I'm eating less
and I'm exercising.' What are the two things no American does? Americans
don't eat less and we don't exercise. You know, these--of course you're
going to lose weight if you eat less and exercise. That--those go hand
in hand. Welcome to America,
where that doesn't happen. You also have to question, you know, Ms.
Wiley's motives. You know, she works for a Washington,
DC, based lobby group called
the Competitive Enterprise Institute that lobbies on behalf of the food
industry, the petroleum industry, the cigarette companies. So, you know,
I came into this to--to save a population. She came into this to save
a corporation. There's completely different motives behind our--behind
the agenda.
BARTIROMO: When did you first tell McDonald's this was coming out?
Mr. SPURLOCK: I--I called them about midway through my diet to try and
set up an interview. And then I called a second time and a third time
and then I just tried to call--get anybody. I'll speak to anyone, any
spokesperson for McDonald's. And all they kept saying was, 'Yeah, well,
maybe we can set up an interview,' 'Maybe if you called back next week,'
'Well, if you're in Chicago, perhaps we could do it,' 'We really don't
have an answer for you now. Maybe we could do it.' You know, and so
then I sent them an e-mail, you know, and said, 'Listen, I want to'--you
know, they said, 'Send us an e-mail outlining what you want to do,'
and now they've released this e-mail like it's some kind of a smoking
gun. It's--it's--it's absolutely fantastic.
BARTIROMO: Let--let's talk about your e-mail. We have a part of it here.
Mr. SPURLOCK: Sure.
BARTIROMO: 'I am amazed at the work currently being done by McDonald's...'
Mr. SPURLOCK: Sure. Yeah.
BARTIROMO: '...in conjunction with their franchisees to create and deliver
healthy alternatives to their consumers.'
Mr. SPURLOCK: Sure.
BARTIROMO: 'I believe your involvement will show what most people are
witnessing: that McDonald's is committed to the healthy future of America.'
Mr. SPURLOCK: Yeah.
BARTIROMO: Did you--you wrote that?
Mr. SPURLOCK: Of course--of course I wrote that. And, look, wh--what
did I just say to you? I picked McDonald's because they're the leader.
They're the industry leader. They came out with salads. They're coming
out with healthier options. Once again, these things are still window
dressing around a bigger problem. You know, they're--they're still not
educating their consumers. They are re--releasing healthier options.
One--on--one of the things they love to tout is how many salads they
sold last year. Last year McDonald's sold 150 million salads. People--people
who come to McDonald's make smart choices. They care about their health.
A hundred and fifty million salads sounds great when you hear the number,
until you start to think about McDonald's feeds 46 million people a
day; 17 billion people a year. That means not even 1 percent--not even
one out of 100 people who go to McDonald's buys a salad, because that's
not why we go there. We don't go there for salads. We go there for the
stuff we like: for the burgers, the shakes, the french fries.
So how do you help educate your consumers to make healthy choices? You
see, that's where the slippery slope lies for a company like McDonald's,
'cause to start educating them to make healthier choices, you really
stand to affect the profitability of your company, and that's a...
BARTIROMO: But you...
Mr. SPURLOCK: ...that's--and that's--that's--that's a tough road to
tow.
BARTIROMO: Were you in a different frame of mind when you wrote that
e-mail? Did change your mind after going through the process?
Mr. SPURLOCK: I mean, there's nothing in that e-mail that's different
from what I'm telling you right now.
BARTIROMO: It just seems that you were talking positively about McDonald's,
that they are...
Mr. SPURLOCK: I still...
BARTIROMO: ...attempting this healthy lifestyle, and yet when we're
talking right now...
Mr. SPURLOCK: Yeah. Yeah.
BARTIROMO: ...it seems that you're saying they need to make more responsibility
and--and stop...
Mr. SPURLOCK: It's because I'm trying to get an interview. What do you
expect me to say. Do you want me to say, 'Hey, you horrible people,
you know, come talk to me'? You've got--look, you've got to be realistic.
You know, it's like you're not going to call somebody up and, you know,
call them a (censored) sucker and you want an interview.
BARTIROMO: There you go.
Mr. SPURLOCK: You know, you're going to call somebody up and you're
going to say, 'Hey, I like--I'd like to have an interview with you.
Let's--let's sit down and talk about this.' Yeah.
BARTIROMO: So part of it was your lure into getting them to talk to
you...
Mr. SPURLOCK: Oh, yeah, yeah.
BARTIROMO: ...by writing that e-mail.
Mr. SPURLOCK: You--you always want to--you know, you always want to
make sure people will want to talk to you. You know, if you're rude
you won't no--want to talk to anyone….
BARTIROMO: Is Michael Moore some--a mentor of yours?
Mr. SPURLOCK: I think--I--I...
BARTIROMO: I mean, what did you think of the Michael Moore story, where
Disney was trying to persuade Miramax not to release it?
Mr. SPURLOCK: Oh, I mean, I think--I think it's terrible. I thi--I think
Disney's going to lose a lot of money. I think that--I think that, you
know, we live in a country where people should have the right to say
what they want. And you know, I understand Disney's point of view. Once
again, they're a business. McDonald's is a business. You know, you have
to do what's best for business. And to not lose tax breaks or potential
tax breaks in Florida,
yeah, maybe. But I think that his--his film's going to get out. You
know, his film's going to get seen and I don't know what's going to
happen. But and I--too, I mean, Michael Moore is a great filmmaker.
Errol Morris is a great filmmaker. I love tons of filmmakers, Stanley
Kubrick, Elia Kazan, Frank Capra. You know, there's a lot of people
I admire…..
To
find out more about Maria Bartiromo's program, click here.