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Wednesday, January 26, 2005

The lawsuit that got Morgan Spurlock an Oscar® nod
Posted by Jill | 6:06 PM

Every now and then the planets line up in a way that has a kind of beautiful symmetry.

Morgan Spurlock's documentary about his adventures as a McDonald's devoté, Super Size Me, is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Film, and today parts of the lawsuit that started it all has been reinstated:

A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a lower court judge erred when he dismissed parts of the lawsuit brought on behalf of two New York children.

U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet dismissed the lawsuit in 2003 because he said it failed to link the children's alleged health problems directly to McDonald's products.

But the appeals judges said New York's general business law requires a plaintiff to show only that deceptive advertising was misleading and that the plaintiff was injured as a result. The panel upheld other parts of the dismissal.


Steve Gilliard makes a very valid point:

Y'know, the fact that McD's got rid of supersized meals and started offering salads AFTER "Supersize Me" came out may actually work AGAINST them.

Still not sure how I feel about this, but I still never, ever see nutritional info posted in a convenient place in a McD's. They never have the "mandatory" handouts, and the plaque is usually posted high and/or behind the counter. The fact that NYC food banks are trying to get poor folks to eat more (expensive) fruits and fresh produce rather than $1 meals at McD's--and the stated fact that they are doing this to reduce diet-related illnesses in poor minorities--speaks volumes.


For me, well, I had the opportunity to talk to Mr. Spurlock for about 20 seconds at last spring's aptly named Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, at which Spurlock's film was the film everyone wanted to see. And if the reinstatement of this lawsuit helps his chances to take home the statue, well, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
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