Big,
Bigger, Biggest
I’m
trying to figure out exactly
when it was that we collectively
decided in this country that
large was no longer large
enough. Was the decision made
by some bored advertising
executive on Madison Avenue
who arbitrarily declared one
day that everything American
consumers purchased should
be bigger? Are the sizes of
portions and products merely
the marketplace’s response
to the consumer’s demand
for bigger, larger everything?
What about terrorism –
could this all be some subversive
plot to keep America down
by making us fat, broke, and
environmentally unfriendly?
Far
fetched? Maybe – but
you tell me what sane, rational
human being would decide that
a 32 ounce soda at a movie
theatre was not nearly large
enough. Now you can purchase
the 64 ounce bucket of soda
(that’s nearly 2 liters
my friends) to go with your
tub of popcorn. Sure, I love
diet Coke and all but I’d
like to think I can make it
two hours without downing
a six pack, to say nothing
of the resulting required
bathroom trips.
Or
consider McDonalds French
Fries. How was it concluded
that the old “Large”
serving with 6.2 ounces of
fries and a whopping 540 calories
and 26 grams of fat wasn’t
quite gluttonous enough? Now
we have “Super-Size”
fries with 610 calories and
29 grams of fat. One Super
Size fry is nearly 25% of
the recommended daily calories
for the average adult male
and you haven’t even
gotten to the cheeseburger
yet.
Lest
you think it’s just
our portions we like bigger,
consider America’s fascination
with SUVs. Not content with
vehicles merely large enough
to accommodate the family,
we like trucks large enough
to accommodate our family,
the neighbor’s family,
and a few random strangers.
If it’s also capable
of rolling right over Datsuns
without even upsetting the
suspension, well great. Never
mind that the thing gets three
gallons to the mile or costs
$120 to fill – it sure
does look great stuck in traffic!
And
how about the corporate culture?
Apparently bored with regular-old
million-dollar mergers, the
last decade has seen megamergers
– behemoth joining behemoth
to create one mind-bogglingly
enormous company with more
assets than the average mid-sized
nation. Sure, megamergers
are somewhat contradictory
in that they usually result
in the seemingly small practice
of downsizing, but when you
consider that downsizing is
merely a tool to obtain “super
size” profits, well,
then, it all makes sense.
When
did we start living so large?
When did size begin to matter
so much? Are we, as a nation,
compensating for some collective
sense of inadequacy or are
we just a country of gluttons,
the first megaconsumers of
our species? Will our quest
for larger portions of everything
ever end?
I
sure hope so, if only to stop
the incessant stream of emails
I receive on a daily basis
offering to “super size”
portions of my male anatomy.
I mean – geesh –
the size of things really
isn’t that important.
Is
it?
This
Essay © 2003 Lee Totten
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