Brazil, condemned McDonald’s
for employee put on 30 kilos

SAN PAOLO – The hamburger chain McDonald’s has been condemned by a Brazilian court to pay $ 50,000 in compensation to a former employee who has gained weight of 30 pounds in the 12 years during which he worked in the American multinational trying foodstuffs. The regional labor court of Porto Alegre decided today.

Edson Zwierzinsky denounced McDonald’s because as manager he was forced to try hamburgers several times a day. “They forced him to try many products on a daily basis – his lawyer, Vilson Martins informed – ingested varying quantities of sandwiches, hamburgers, chips and fizzy drinks”. The court forced McDonald’s to pay the amount for moral damages, the cost of treatment against obesity, and cosmetic damage.

It is not the first time that McDonald’s is put in the dock. In 2002 two US girls sued the fast-food chain: “if we are obese it is his fault”, they argued before the judges. The corporation’s defense pointed to the fact that there was no evidence that a diet based solely or primarily on fast-food restaurants had similar effects.

To counteract this observation, the convinced American director Morgan Spurlock, decided to become the guinea pig of an experiment: a month of McDonald’s food only, all in front of a camera 24 hours a day. The result became a documentary-complaint entitled ‘Super-size me ‘where Spurlock has only eaten McDonald’s food, three times a day, every day – simultaneously interrupting all physical activity – and documenting all the physical and psychological changes that have occurred. Result: in 30 days Spurlock has gained weight of 11 kilos, cholesterol has increased from 168 to 230 and the liver seemed to be that of an alcoholic.

The effects of the documentary were immediate: as soon as the film was released, McDonald’s reduced the rations of the chips and began offering new types of menus, even though the burger chain denied that the changes were motivated by the documentary.

(August 21, 2011)