Reflections Paper

Wendy Xu TSM 311 After watching the documentary Super-Size Me, there should not be a lawsuit brought against McDonald’s blaming the restaurant for their condition as the cause for overweight and obesity in the United States. The documentary showed the experiment on what effects eating fast food could have on the body if Morgan Spurlock ate only McDonald’s for all three meals a day for thirty days and led a more sedentary lifestyle. According to Morgan Spurlock, McDonald’s is iconic of the fast food culture, the icon that Americans overeat and under exercise. This documentary started out with Morgan being in great shape, according to a physical examination. After eating McDonald’s food for one month, however, Morgan Spurlock gained 24.5 pounds and his cholesterol shot up to 65 points (Morales). This documentary shows that Morgan could only eat what was available over the counter, no supersizing unless offered, and eat everything on the menu at least once. While lawsuits against McDonald’s have been recently being filed and dismissed, humans are still responsible for obesity because of their irresponsible eating habits and lack of exercise.
On July 23, 2002, Caesar Barber and his attorney Samuel Hirsch filed a landmark lawsuit against McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, and Kentucky Fried Chicken, blaming the restaurant for causing medical conditions such as heart attacks, diabetes, and obesity. “The basis of the lawsuit was that these fast food chains had intentionally withheld this information from their customers” (Andrews). The judge determined that Barber and Hirsch were unable to provide support for the defense’s argument that Barber’s personal choice to consume fast food for decades was at fault for his health issues, and not the corporations that provided the food (Andrews). These arguments prove that lawsuits have been recently filed and dismissed by court cases. Barber stated that he was unaware of the nutritional labels and the high fat and