A couple weeks ago, I spent a whole week eating at McDonalds. Not every meal, but, I think I went there four or five times. I like the place, but, not that much. Once every couple months is enough for me. By the end, I was just getting fries. I think the issue was that McD is cheap, and is a lowest-common-denominator for people who are picky about food. (Don't worry, I'm eating like a normal person again.)

So, it just seemed like the right thing to do to check out Super Size Me. Man, was I bummed out. I was expecting a comedy, but the film is about a guy who gets really ill eating lots of Mickey D. It's also about how we're getting fat. I'm pretty fat, and could stand to lose 30 pounds, so it hit close to home.

But, I won't disagree with its premise: fast food makes you depressed and fat. I know that when I eat a lot of bad food, I get depressed, and sometimes gain weight. That's hardly what I'd call controversial.

But, it looks like it *is* controversial to someone. According to this article at IGN (thanks to a link from Lying Media Bastards) three separate PR firms are spinning positive stories for McDonalds.

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/512/512414p1.html?fromint=1

One of the pages linked is amazing. It's at Tech Central Station, a conservative, pro-business "news" site operated by a PR firm.

http://www.techcentralstation.com/supersizecon.html

There's so much spin there, I'm blown away. I recalled that TCS had been putting up its garbage on this site, so I did a little search and found it here.

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/82518_comment.php

There they are: using McDonalds to promote globalization (and ultimately, the privitization the bosses of TCS want!). And these bosses include (according to their article):

"AT&T, ExxonMobil, General Motors Corporation, Intel, McDonalds, Microsoft, Nasdaq, National Semiconductor, PhRMA, and Qualcomm"

(I wonder if KFC can get in on this, or are they competition for McDs?)

Back on the Tech Central Station page, I couldn't help but notice the presence of my favorite lie-sheet, The Washington Times, the conservative paper run by the Moonies, an apocalyptic religious cult known as the Unification Church. Of course *they'd* be quick to shill for the corporate masters.

The spin being applied is roughly this: Spurlock is encouraging irresponsible fat people to sue McDonalds. The film, however, says nothing of the sort.

Spurlock just dissects McDs mixed messages: either fast food is not that healthy, or, it is okay to have often. Assume the latter; make a funny film (that turns out to be not that funny). Throughout, it presents the lawsuit as greedy and even, at times, irresponsible. In fact, early on, Spurlock comes off like your typical unsympathetic anti-populist-with-vegan-chef-elitist-girlfriend. It's only later, after he really can't seem to stop eating McDs, that he gets some humility.

That's exactly why the movie's so popular. Everyone (almost everyone) likes McDs. We also all sense it's not good for us. At another level, a lot of us resent that it's hard to get something healthier than fast food. Spurlock blames corporations... and not for being bad per-se, but for being huge and powerful. That's why there's all this spin.

So TCS has a big job on its hands. You can bet they got paid well. And the Moonies are lining up to help.

Ohhh... but what was Esquire doing on there? I had to see. It's written by Chuck Klosterman. Writer for Spin. Middle aged teenager. Hipster most likely.

http://www.nypress.com/16/35/news&columns/feature.cfm

Probably a big McD eater too. Whatever.

Is it any big surprise that a well paid writer for a music magazine turns out to be a shill for the biggest most powerful corporations in the world? It's not that different from starting out as an alcoholic metal band, and eventually morphing into "Metallica: litigious enemy of music fans worldwide."

Esquire used to be great, but, today seems to be less of a magazine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esquire_Magazine

Get back to where you once belonged.

Go see Super Size Me. It'll make you laugh. It'll make you cry. It'll make you eat your vegetables.