Do fast food ads sell a lie?

[True2marie]

One of the worse fast food experiences I ever had was ordering a Whopper Jr. at Burger King only to find out they'd run out of tomatoes and onions, but failed to tell me until AFTER I tried to return my meal. On that day, I truly understood the merits of cooking at home. Also, I realized that for sure that what is advertised by these fast food joints on TV rarely lines up with what you get in the drive-thru.

Am I alone with these thoughts?

 

[Fiorabelle]

Yes, most fast food companies have misleading advertisements but I guess it's a case of you get what you pay for. In my city there is a gourmet burger takeout shop (, whose burgers look even more scrumptious than their photographs. Granted, they cost a little more than a burger from Mc Donald's or Burger King but they're well worth it.

 

[ReadmeByAmy]

When I read this post I remembered the other day when I passed by 7-eleven that is just a few minutes from our house, I noticed that they had a new promo and they post an ad outside showing a picture of a Hotdog sandwich with nice toppings that was so lovely to look at and deliciously to eat. So when I came home I told my husband that we go to the store for a midnight snack. When we ordered and the sandwich was given to us, it was not the same that was in their ads and I was so depressed because it was unexpected to be like that. For me it is some sort of a kind of false advertisement misleading the consumers just to attract customer to buy to them.

 

[crimsonghost747]

It's obvious that it's not going to look as good as it does in the ads. However I must say that where ever those pictures were taken... let's just say that I've never had my whoppers look like that. Not once.

Also I find it quite unbelievable that they would just make the burger without the ingredients. Ohh well, I guess customer service isn't exactly the same all over the world.

 

[isabbbela]

Absolutely they sell a lie! How ridiculous are those ads and tv commercials from MC Donald's showing a huge Big Mac, when in fact it's small and mediocre. Also, Wendy's brag on their ads they make their burgers with fresh ingredients....as if! The fast food burger industry is one of the worse ones when it comes to advertising something they cannot sell. I think there should be better laws when it comes to making false ads and tv commercials.

 

[OhioTom76]

I thought it was pretty bold of McDonald's to do a video a few years ago, that showed how they photograph their foods for advertising:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...eals-menu-burgers-look-like-youre-served.html

They're pretty forthcoming in admitting that they have food stylists making the food look it's best, however what you see in the pictures are real food, in the same portion sizes as sold at the restaurants.

I used to work at Burger King years ago, and it is technically possible to make a burger that looks roughly as good as the ones in the ads if you were to be extra careful. The biggest culprit in those pics is due to the employees smashing the buns down when wrapping them. They're also not neurotically placing the toppings on the burger with tweezers with perfect precision - I mean, lets be realistic here, it's not a Michelin Star restaurant, it's fast food. Also, if you happen to stop in after a rush of customers, if they made too many burgers and toasted too many buns and are just starting to slow things down in response - they put the excess burgers and buns in a steam tray until they are used up before making any more fresh ones.

Actually, one of the biggest offenders IMO, is Subway. I swear they train their employees to completely flatten the sandwich when cutting them. I'm surprised they don't just get a rolling pin and completely obliterate them.

 

[MyPaperBleedsInk]

Technically.. you are getting what's advertised. The thing is - they spend HOURS making the final product advertised in commercials or on print. They only have to get you in and get you to purchase their food, so the final look is the most important thing. Some of those items are even glazed/stained so they maintain their appearance. Product advertising for food places is almost becoming a science, an artform.

Is it wrong to do this? I don't know. Ingredient-wise, you're getting exactly what you ordered. You can really have the expectation to get a perfect looking product matching an image you see, every single time. And that's for more than just fast food places.

 

[sillylucy]

I do think that it is common knowledge now that your food will NOT look like it does in the ad. Is this misleading? Sure. Is this false advertising? Absolutely. The next question to ask is "What can we do about this as consumers?" The food industry has so much money and it makes me feel helpless because I know I can't tackle them all on my own.

 

[oivas]

I am used to finding food that does not look like the ones in advertisement, but what irritates me is when the franchise selling the food item does not inform on ingredients or content not added.

In your case, I am unhappy with the fact that they outlet did not inform you about the tomatoes and onions not being there, more than the burger not matching up to the one in the advertisement.

 

[OhioTom76]

On the flip side of this though, I've seen ads on TV and in print for local restaurants that clearly don't have a budget to have their food professionally photographed, and they look laughably bad in the ads themselves. There is a commercial airing on TV lately for a local Italian joint, and the food photos they used in it look like they were shot with someone's cell phone. They were all shot with the head-on flash, and look very unappetizing. Funny thing is, in person they are actually good dishes - they were just shot very poorly.

Years ago I worked on a web site for a local restaurant and as part of the job, I had to photograph a bunch of their food too. They totally hooked us up and made one of just about everything on their menu, then let us eat it all for free. I had to photograph them first of course, then we could dig in. We brought home a ton of leftovers, lol. It was kind of fun too though, because I was trying to shoot the items during a relatively busy dinner service and I didn't want to disturb the other guests with flashes going off, so I had to shoot them under ambient lighting on a tripod. They came out fantastic though, and were exactly how you would see them if you went out to eat.

 

[janineaa]

Fast food ads are always misleading. What's bad with this case is that Burger King is known that customers can customize their orders. They should have told you in advance that the ingredients were not available so you could at least change your order. But I guess you can't expect too much because you are not really paying for good service, since it's a fast food chain after all.

 

[Chris_A]

Sadly, most fast food chains are always using such advertisements to hype up their product, and when you actually order that meal, you find out the hard way, that you have been lied to. This goes for McDonalds, KFC, nearly all of them out there. In my country, they write something along the lines of "The actual product may vary from the picture" so that people can not sue them because of this.

 

[Jade]

I don't really expect much more from fast foods. They are there for the market that can live with such standards, not that there's anything wrong with that, as I do still enjoy eating at fast food restaurants every now and again myself. I understand that the quality can't possibly measure up to the photographs, so as long as they taste good and are clean, then I'd be satisfied. I don't think there is any excuse for trying to pass off burgers that lack ingredients, though.