Superflex’s ’Flooded McDonald’s’: The Cost of Capitalism is All-Consuming

The Danish art group, Superflex, has created an art film called Flooded McDonald’s. Staying true to its title, the piece is a recording of a McDonald’s restaurant that slowly gets flooded, filling it from floor to ceiling with water. By doing so, the film wishes to question the role of large multinational corporations such as McDonald’s in today’s climate emergency. They do this by using the flood as a symbol of rising sea levels worldwide, calling for urgent actions from companies such as McDonald’s. As seen in the film itself, when climate change floods the world, so will their companies and profits. This makes Flooded McDonald’s by Superflex aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Climate Action.

“Furniture is lifted by the water, trays of food and drinks float around, electronics short circuit and eventually the space is completely submerged,” describes Superflex of the events captured in Flooded McDonald’s. These are seemingly post-apocalyptic renderings of a future where a majority of the planet has been submerged due to rising sea levels. With today’s adverse rate of sea level rise, the fictional vista of Flooded McDonald’s may even be a documentary of the planet’s near future. 

Despite these urgent circumstances, an investigative journalism piece by The Guardian has found that the company at hand, McDonald’s, contributes more than 53 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in a single year, exceeding the emissions of several European nations. This reality remains in place despite the company’s announcement of a Climate Action Plan, where they aim to reach a global 2050 net-zero emission target. 

The food and beverage industry, especially the beef industry, has consistently been contributing around a third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, the leading cause of climate change that drives up the world’s sea levels. This fact is why Mario Herrero, a Cornell University sustainable food systems professor, has called for an end-to-end food system approach to address the beef industry’s contribution to the climate crisis. 

The problem behind big beef industry players, such as McDonald’s, mostly does not arise in its consumer-facing restaurants, but occurs within its many beef farms around the world. This happens because a cow’s digestive system produces excess methane, a gas that warms the planet 86 times more than carbon dioxide does. Farms that supply multinational chains such as McDonald’s are homes to hundreds of thousands of cows that are raised for slaughter. Hence, the industry contributes around 14.5 percent of the world’s total greenhouse emissions. Killing cows en masse and taking the planet down with it.

To tackle the problem, Burger King, a rival of McDonald’s, has introduced patties made from cows that produce 33 percent less greenhouse gas emissions by controlling their diet. Still, as The Guardian reports, at current rates, more comprehensive solutions such as government taxation or a mass change in consumer behaviours are necessary in reducing the beef industry’s impact on the climate. Less shots from Flooded McDonald’s by Superflex will come true.  

Find out more about Superflex’s Flooded McDonald’s and their other pieces by checking their Instagram on @superflexstudio.