It's hard to believe, but it's been nearly 10 years since Mayor Mick put Oklahoma City on a Taco Bell Fresco Menu diet in an effort to help us all lose 1,000,000 pounds through painful diarrhea. We're reminded about the campaign every now and then when Mayor Mick gives a TED Talk, or from PR firm-pitched news stories on websites like Entrepreneur.com:
A few years ago, a fitness magazine ranked Oklahoma City among America's most obese places to live. After reading this, Mayor Mick Cornett entered his own height and weight into a government health website and found out that he was in fact obese. Both results plagued him.
So on New Year's Eve of 2007, he announced to the press: "This city is going on a diet." He challenged the citizens - and himself - to lose a collective 1 million pounds, setting up a website where more than 47,000 citizens registered for the OKC Million program and tracked their weight.