McDonald's Fights Back Against Hit Film

At first glance the text of the advert running in national newspapers today reads like an attack on the burger and fries giant McDonald's.

The advert says it supports the core argument of a film where a man who eats burgers for 30 days piles on weight to such a health damaging extent that his doctors order him to stop eating them.

But it is not placed by campaigners savaging the firm's nutritional record - it is placed by McDonald's.

So concerned is the multinational about the US independent film Super Size Me, which will be screened this weekend at the Edinburgh film festival and goes on general release in Britain in three weeks' time, that it decided to mount the unconventional campaign.

"What may surprise you is how much of the film we agree with," the ad says, before later declaring: "We do agree with ... its core argument, that if you eat too much and do too little, it's bad for you."

The ad claims the film is flawed because an average customer would take six years to eat the same amount of burgers as the filmmaker ate. It also claims the weight gain was exaggerated because the filmmaker cut his physical activity to a bare minimum.

McDonald's spokeswoman Amanda Pierce said: "We wanted to ensure there is a balanced debate so people hear our side of the story."

In the film, film-maker Morgan Spurlock put on 27lb and saw his cholesterol and blood pressure rise after eating nothing but McDonald's hamburgers for a month. The film, made for £50,000, was a surprise hit in the US, making £6m.

In the US McDonald's is being sued by obese people who claim its products, supported by a lavish marketing campaign, helped make them fat.

Labour MP David Hinchcliffe MP, chairman of the powerful Commons health select committee, said some food companies were taking the problem of obesity far more seriously than the burger firm.

"I don't see McDonald's in the front line of the progressives who are genuinely looking at their role and responsibility in the global obesity problem," he said.

Concerns about McDonald's nutrition and allegations it damaged the environment led the firm to change its menu at its 1,200 outlets across the UK.

The ad says it now offers salads, fruit and organic products alongside the Big Mac and fries.