Mac Donaldization of SocietyPp152 - 154

Supersize Me: How too much of McDonald's will

make you feel! • Eat three meals a day

for one month at McDonalds

• Fascinating look at our relationship with fast food, and exactly what kind of an effect it has on us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2diPZOtty0

The film had an incredible impact.• The one thing I had hoped that would happen with this movie, was

it would make people start to think about how they eat, how they live. Nobody walks out of this movie and calls their lawyer to sue McDonalds.

• People walked out saying, 'I need to pay more attention to what I eat. I need to pay better attention to how I live. I need to exercise more.'

• Parents are walking out saying, 'I need to be a better role model to my kids. I need to cook more at home. I'm going down to my kids school Monday morning and see what the hell they're feeding my kids, because I have no idea.‘

• Morgan Spurlock , 2004http://www.dvdtalk.com/interviews/morgan_spurlock.html

Global reach

Jamie Oliver's 2004 “Feed Me Better” campaign improved academic results

The United Kingdom: Healthier school dinners introduced by Jamie in 2004, significantly improved pupils' test results in the UK, and cut the number of days they were off sick.

• Oliver took fast food off canteen menus in favour of creamy coconut fish and Mexican bean wraps.

• The number of "authorised absences" (= illness) fell by 15% in the wake of the campaign.

• The researchers estimated that the proportion of students who got level 4 in their English exams increased by 4.5 percentage points after his intervention.

Food for thoughtThe old Greenwich menu ...• Burgers and chips• Sausage rolls• Fish fingers• Drumstick-shaped turkey nuggets• Chicken nuggets

And the new one • Roast beef and all the trimmings• Mushroom and lentil bake• Mexican bean wrap• Lamb and vegetable pie• Creamy coconut fish

Jamie’s Food Revolution

America's unhealthiest city, Huntington, West Virginia, give him short shrift:

Jamie Oliver was ridiculed by a local radio DJ and even dressed up as a giant pea pod in an attempt to turn the US school children on to his healthy eating agenda.

"We don't want to sit around and eat lettuce all day," radio DJ Rod Willis snapped at Oliver during the first episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. "You come to town and you say you're going to change our menus. I just don't think you should come here and tell us what to do."

Physical activity amongst Norwegian youth Upper Secondary

2005 2008

Folkehelseinstituttet

Overweight Norway

Source: Folkeinstituttet

- KMI <18,5: undervekt - KMI 18,5-24,9: normalvekt

- KMI 25,0-29,9: overvekt - KMI 30,0+: fedme

Voksne menn har gått jevnt opp i vekt siden 1960-årene. Kvinnene har økt jevnt siden 1985.

Overweight youthSolution?

Allow youth to have an operation to rid them of excess fat?Photo os from Rikscentrum för överviktiga barn, Huddinge Universitetssykehus, i Sverige, 2002. Foto: Huddinge Universitetssykehus

ComprehensionA. Speed, efficiency, control, and standardization.B. You have much less contact with people when you use services like an ATM or a

drive-in McDonald’s. There are even drive-in windows for marriage and divorce.C. In one month, Morgan Spurlock of “Supersize Me” ate 13.5 kilos of sugar, 5.5

kilos of fat, and gained 11.25 kilos.D. 50%. Poor diet and a lack of exercise. E. You may have less time to think; buying becomes a habit; we are manipulated

by advertising, our life styles get more standardized. Also, advertizing makes us want the same things.

F. Today there are 30,000 McDonald’s restaurants in 119 countries serving close to 50 million guests.

G. China, Turkey, India, Brazil, and many others.H. They are lifted out of poverty and old-fashioned traditions; they lose their

distinctive charm and regional culture.

Food Crisis – High PricesResearch and write a text

• Click on the link below and search for ‘food price’. Read news articles from at least three countries and sum up their main points in a short outlining text on the subject. In your text you should also include comments to these questions.

- How do the texts differ in angle and contents? - What are the causes of the food price crisis? - Where is the food situation at its most critical? - How are people reacting to the rising prices?

• The newspaper articles that you choose will most likely answer all of these questions, if not choose from the articles below.

• Net Resourceshttp://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/

• Further ArticlesTelegraph.co.ukFood shortages: how will we feed the world?http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/04/22/scifood122.xmlMake Wealth HistoryFeeding the World in 2008 - biofuels or bread?http://makewealthhistory.org/2008/02/26/feeding-the-world-in-2008-biofuels-or-bread/CNNhttp://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/03/24/food.ap/index.htmlRadioFreeEuropeWorld: Governments Take Action To Curb Rising Food Prices, But At What Cost? http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2008/04/0f08bc1d-e1fb-46d4-b3c1-3af475991609.html