The obesity epidemic, explained in one picture.

photo via Spoil Your Dinner

Sure, Vox, you can take seven pictures to explain scientifically why we're all fat.  Or you can spend $2.55 at Walmart and understand firsthand.  

The same great country that produced atomic weaponry, eradicated polio, put a man on the moon, and led the world in representative self-government has now turned its great resources and genius to inventing a stupidly easy, quick, cheap way to eat warm cake out of a mug pretty much whenever you want.

It doesn't even require anything more than water.

We're all doomed.

I also appreciate the glimpse into the American psyche represented on the front of the box.  Notice what it says on the mug right under "CONFETTI CAKE":  "No artificial preservatives!  No artificial flavors!  Real ingredients!"

Indeed the bits of funfetti are colored with turmeric and paprika (?) rather than red dye #40.  So we value our health here in America, along with personal cake in a mug ready in less than two minutes.

Also notice what it says somewhere below "Perfect Size for 1":  4 individual pouches.  

So let's not kid ourselves.  We value reasonable portion sizes, yes sir.  We value them so much that we'll eat four of them.  How much denial are we in?

So thank you, Duncan Hines, for innovating a new, funtastic, heart-attackstic vice for me.  

You win.