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Controversy in Ads

Gluttony 101

Dr. Sabrina Segal

Welcome to “uber-Burger”- a place inhabited by mountains of fatty beef piled on lard-laced buns and topped with not-so-usual condiments such as potato chips and hot dogs…yes, you read me right – topped with hot dogs. Carl’s Jr. tested this shameful splurge over the summer, calling it “the ultimate picnic burger.”

It didn’t quite fly. Not for the fact that it was loaded with fats galore, sodium, and enough cholesterol to scare a cardiologist, but rather it was just a bit too weird, even for the Carl’s crowd.

“Americans are obese. And you can blame it on the fast food and lack of exercise all you want. Either way, Carl’s and Hardee’s are proud to help you maintain your burger belly and won’t be helping you ‘trim the fat’ anytime soon.”

Why did the documentary “Super Size Me” bore Americans?

Because we already knew what we were eating and enjoyed it. We weren’t about to let some careless journalist who ate too many French fries one month spoil the fun. In fact, “Super Size Me” didn’t heighten the weight loss consciousness of Americans at all. Instead, it fueled the fast food industry.

•   Carl’s Jr. Double $6 Burger: 1520 calories and 111 grams of fat
•   Hardee’s Monster Thickburger: 1410 calories and 107 grams of fat
•   BK’s Triple Whopper with Cheese: 1230 calories and 82 grams of fat
•   Wendy’s Baconator: 830 calories and 51 grams of fat
•   McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese: 740 calories and 42 grams of fat

Salads were a nice touch, and didn’t amount to much more than a good publicity stunt for McDonalds. After all, do you know anyone who frequents McDonalds for their fresh produce?

Late night talk show host Jay Leno attacked Carl’s & Hardee’s for using “meat as a condiment” citing menu examples like the Philly Cheesesteak Thickburger, a burger topped with sliced steak and cheese. The fast food giants unabashedly used Leno’s quote “This disgusting thing is 5000 calories,” to promote their full-flavored high fat agenda.

Darn skippy! We American’s love our fat, know where to get it, and don’t need talking heads to tell us otherwise. No one will interfere with our love for Carl’s Jr.’s answer to the smoothie- a 700 calorie frozen delight featuring whole fat ice cream with toppings like Cap’n Crunch.

Whatever Carl’s & Hardee’s “unleashes on the world, it’s safe to say it will be fattening, delicious, and made famous, however unwittingly, by food critiques, diet pundits and warriors fighting for the gastronomically correct.” Or is “incorrect?” Exactly!!!!

How do you feel about these unhealthy foods being offered at your favorite fast food restaurant? Are you afraid to say you enjoy a good high fat burger? And if so why? What are feelings on the marketing of fast food to children and adolescents?

Photograph Credit: Sabrina Segal

119 Comments

11. hourigan2 |May. 28, 2008 @ 3:28 AM

A 5000 calorie burger - amazing. I think this is outright madness. I am a divorced father of two and can proudly say that I have never brought my children to a fast food establishment. Obesity in America is at all time highs not only for adults but for children as well. I believe this is due in part to dual parents working, a huge increase in television viewing, and the "joy" of fast-food. Fast food establishments flourish on the basis on a short wait time and "good" fast food. Portion sizes, or serving sizes having seemingly been forgotten about. I am not afraid to say I enjoy fast food because I clearly do not enjoy it. For me, any past experience with fast food always resulted in stomach upset and I can happily say it has been at least 15 years since I have had fast food or a soft drink. Children learn by example. I believe this is an area that be need a societal shift in thinking where we focus on what we are teaching our children on many levels. A 5000 calorie burger is not a positive lesson in healthy living for anyone.
Society needs to wake up and look at what we are doing to the environment and what we are doing to our own bodies. If we cannot get people to care about the body they have been given then how do we ever make a global change in thinking?

12. Roc0103 |May. 28, 2008 @ 9:58 AM

I really think it is sad that these fast food chains have to go to such extremes to feed the glutton apettites of undisciplined people. I feel fast food restaurants are adding to people's glutton addictions and they are making things worse by creating monster burgers or super sizing the meals. We are spoiled group of people feeding our desires at the drop of hat. Sadly the adults are showing children its ok to eat in this horrible manner. There are way too many overweight people and even more overweight kids. I don't try to judge overweight people but I don't stand for eating in a way that just takes a person to the grave very early. I am guilty of eating at fast food restaurants but I eat it in moderation, like once a month if that much and we never supesize. The choices should be healthier, the portions need to be smaller. Our childrens future is already starting off bad if we continue accepting saturated fat foods, high sodium foods, and even extremely sugary foods. Take care of your body people and until your children can account for themselves take care of your babies.

13. Jade_3531 |May. 28, 2008 @ 10:41 AM

The "Super Size Me" documentary is information for our society on how bad fast food really is for our health. It is a good documentary and should be considered by Americans. Then again people have a choice and we chose as a people to create these foods that are un-healthy. Our right as Americans and individuals is to eat whatever we want, we should not have regulations on what we eat... isn't there enough regulations in our society? Putting regulations on food would throw our country into a civil war, already with people and the controversy of our government and the policies we have to follow, why ad more?
Parenting is up to the parent, how can you say you are a bad parent because you let your children eat at McDonald's or Karl's Jr.? You just can't, you don't have the right to judge in that way, we made us what we are, and we made what we eat. I believe the campaigns are awesome who try to inform our people of obesity and the dangers of eating fast food, but that is as far as it should go. The knowledge is there, it should be up to the individual to choose whether they would like to read the nutrition of what they eat.
The largest problem with obesity in my own opinion is not fast food, but over eating. The fast food industry is only trying to make a living and cater to the people's taste, nothing more. These business owners have family members who are obese and sick with diseases from obesity. Americans need to ration what they eat; when you eat at McDonald's or any fast food restaurant eat half of the meal or share with a person you are eating with, moderation with food that is high in calories will help your body to burn those calories instead of turning into fat. My mother has learned the hard way, being over weight has been a huge challenge to her. Now she eats only half of a meal from fast food restaurants. At 52 years old she only eats half of her fries and half of a double quarter pounder from McDonald's and she is content not full or over stuffed, she has also lost almost 50lbs. Other Americans can do the same, just the understanding that you have to burn off what you eat... so eat less and quite blaming the fast food industry, they are not forcing you to eat the food.

14. Katfred |May. 28, 2008 @ 12:21 PM

After reading the article about Gluttony it kind of made me sick.
Its amazing to me what people will put in their bodies. I have not eaten in fast food places for quite some time. Yes it may be convenient sometimes to pick up something fast, but so healthy. i would much rather cook my children a well balanced meal and it really doesn't take that long to make there are so many things out there that are quick and healthy. Children see the ads on television for the greasy fast food restaurants. But I think as long as we start are children from a very young age how to eat and be healthy then they will look at those ads and be just as disgusted as I am.

15. bpant11 |May. 28, 2008 @ 1:21 PM

If there was something that I love to eat, it would be a fat juicy burger. I do not choose to eat at fast food restaurants because i am trying to watch what i eat and anybody who says that they are is only lying to themselves. If you are worried about what are children are eating remember most kids do not have a drivers license and there parents are making that choice. People have made a choice and there is no one to blame but themselves.

16. Kristal |May. 28, 2008 @ 3:07 PM

McDonald's and other fast food restaurants, I feel, have a concern for the growing need of healthier food. I think when they first surfaced years ago there intention was a casual treat for parents and a fun treat for children. At least that is the way it was viewed when I was a child. I remember the fries being fried in heavy lard and dowsed with salt...ummmmmmm!! they were so good. Many fast food restaurants are becoming a need for the growing and busy lives of families and most fast food places have added healthier items to their menus by switching to zero trans-fat cooking oils, bake and grilled items for the concerns of the consumers health. The busier we become the more of a growing need they become. More and more families are two income families and are finding less time for home cooked sit down meals. However, it is at this point, a responsibility of the consumer to make the right and healthy choices that concern themselves an d their families, not the establishments. There is an old saying, " You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink". No one is forcing them to super-size and purchase the less healthier. Fast food now are offering choices. Its up to us to choose the right one.

17. wcarter |May. 28, 2008 @ 7:39 PM

In my opinion, they have just as much of a right to market these products as any other business. Everyone makes their own personal decisions, and we know the consequences. We are the ones who need to control our weight, and keep our kids healthy. Yes, they market triple beef burgers, with steak, and bacon on them, but they also market yogurt, rice cakes, slim fast, gyms, and the need for exercise. Blaming the restaurants and companies is simply a way for people to not look at themselves.

18. mysticalv |May. 28, 2008 @ 9:09 PM

The way I see it people are going to do what they want no matter what opinion is given. I take my kids to eat fast food every once in a while I don't let them have soda at all unless they are sick that when I give them 7up. And I rarely let them have candy. With all the activities going on in their lives sometimes we don't have the time to make a good healthy dinner. Parents are always to blame for what they do or are having to do just to make a normal life for their families having to work and jugle a family at the same time is very hard and people don't seem to understand that its getting harder every year to do both. Society has to realize that parents are only trying to do what they can. As far as fast food goes yes its bad for you but its convinent and basically thats all it needs to be.

19. dollar1020 |May. 29, 2008 @ 6:13 AM

Time, advertisement, self, and families are to blame. Everyone today is always in a hurry or say they do not have time to sit down and eat a decent meal, well if that is the case make time or when stopping at a fast food restaurant chose the healthy alternative instead. We are responsible for our own actions so making a slight change to accommodate a healthy meal will not hurt. Advertisements are everywhere on television, signs, radio, and the Internet. They make the food look appealing and use prizes and incentives to seduce the person into buying their product in the case food. Yes, meal deals and dollar menus may save some time, but the question should be would they save my body. We are our own victims falling for everyday marketing strategies and not doing what we should, providing our bodies with health food. No one is to blame but us alone, we have all the choices in the world, but chose the unhealthy, juicy, and fat filled, and covered in melted cheese Whopper or Big Mac. Why? Many believe is because it taste good or because it is convenient, well look at all the heart disease and high cholesterol patients overflowing our health systems and tell me that is a price to pay for good tasting fast food. We as adults should provide examples to children and eat healthy, yet the average family probably eats out two to three times a week. We wonder why America is getting fat because people are either to lazy, in a hurry, or just does not care. We need to realize that we need to teach the future (our children) to eat good so that they can have a better chance at a healthy life. Also taking the time to sit around a table can work wonders. Being able to sit down and enjoy a meal with your family and talk is not so bad. Is it? So next time when face with the choice of healthy alternative or a fat filled artery stopper think of do I want a healthier life or do I just want to be glutinous and damage the only body one has.

20. BuddyBop |May. 29, 2008 @ 8:22 AM

How can we blame all the fast food services for offering high calorie fatty products even if it is unhealthy? Are Americans lacking that much self control that we need to take the big juicy burger off the menu? Parents do need to educate their children on what foods are healthy and unhealthy the same way they need to educate them about alcohol, cigarettes, and many other potentially harmful things they could encounter in their lives. As for the adults that are eating the high calorie burgers, they know that its fatty and they made the decision to eat it. There are a lot of things in life that can be harmful if done in excess. If fast food restaurants shouldn’t be able to offer a high fat high calorie burgers because of the effects it has on a person’s health, than cigarette companies shouldn’t be able offer cigarettes with nicotine in them. Brewing companies would also have to sell only nonalcoholic beverages. Personally, I love to have a big burger once in awhile, but I also workout a lot and eat healthy most of the time so eating that burger won’t affect me that much.

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