Talk:Media effects theory

Any other useful sources on the effects theory?

i am not too sure, but i think that George Comstock theory can be added to this page. the theory is relatively simple ((action = salience / repertoire x arousal)) do you think it should be added here??? i have the information but not sure if it's relevant here.

I removed this long section which seems pretty irrelevant to the theory being outlined here:

In "Super Size Me", a documentary from debut filmmaker Morgan Spurlock he attempted to draw a parallel between the fast food culture we live in and the rampant (and ever-increasing) rate of obesity in America. To do this, he launched into a little science experiment. As a 33 year-old New Yorker in excellent health, he would eat nothing but McDonald's for an entire month, to gauge the effects on his body. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner at McDonald's and whenever they asked him to supersize, he would have to accept. Before starting, he consulted three doctors, a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist, and a general practitioner, all of whom said this experiment obviously wouldn't be good for him, but that the damages would be minimal.

Instead of this Spurlock gained almost 30 pounds (over 10 in the first week), saw his cholesterol skyrocket, and experienced frequent nausea, chest pains, mood swings and loss of sex drive. During this month he also drove around the country, interviewing several different people on the topic (including a "Big Mac enthusiast" who has eaten over 19,000 Big Macs). His research on our fast food culture definitely yielded some interesting information, especially when he interviewed a group of 1st-graders who could recognize Ronald McDonald more than Jesus Christ or George Washington.

This film had a massive effect on McDonald's. McDonald's took out full page ads in The Guardian, The Times, The Herald, The Independent and The Scotsman, the adverts read: "The film is slick, well made and yes, somewhat annoyingly, doesn't portray McDonald's in the most favourable light. and yet what we do agree with is its core argument - that if you eat too much and do too little, it's bad for you. What we don't agree with is the idea that eating at McDonald's is bad for you." The ad went on to give details of healthy options such as salads and fruit bags, which McDonald's says is responsible for a 10% global sales increase.

In the United Kingdom, McDonald's placed a brief ad in the trailers of showings of the film, pointing to the website www.supersizeme-thedebate.co.uk. The ads simply stated, "See what we disagree with. See what we agree with".

The website was aimed to get back McDonald's reputation. The last question of the true of false quiz clearly stated that "Supersize Me" isn't seen as a threat to McDonald's, and that they are not in a big panic about it, but yet, stating this on a website which is completely separate from the corporations main website somewhat suggests that there is a large concern within McDonald's about this film.

McDonald's said it did not expect "Supersize Me" have an impact in the UK because "there's nothing new here", but yet, the advertising campaign for McDonald's on the back of the Metro has been running for some time. --Jajasoon 19:29, 17 August 2006 (UTC)