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Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

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Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#81

Post by tptacek »

rprasad wrote: post #75
tptacek wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to be argumentative, let's stipulate that those two blog posts are true in spirit, but can anyone find the actual law or FTC policy statement that says "generic ice cream can be styled out of Crisco but Ben & Jerry's has to be real"? Also: McDonalds Canada specifically said, in this video, that they were not embellishing the incidentals; it was exactly the same buns, exactly the same pickles, just arranged differ…

See In re Campbell Soup Co., 77 F.T.C. 664 (1970), which sets forth the basic rules. There are print copies available, but the case generally precedes the digitized archives available with subscriptions to legal research archives (i.e., Lexis/Westlaw). You are free to pay for access to the appropriate database if you actually need to read the case digitally.

Neat! How'd you find it? Do you have any idea what it says? I'd love to know what the basic rules are.

Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#83

Post by huggyface »

bluishgreen wrote: post #58

My 3 year old nephew sometimes slips, falls down and cries. His parents wiggle a colorful toy sometimes and he forgets he fell down, forgets he is still hurting and runs behind the toy. This ad reminds me of the toy. Fast food is bad. I am not interested in the question to start with, so I won't bother with the given answer. thank you very much. That said, sadly this is a good ad campaign, because sadly most of us mo…

How horribly patronizing.

I just ate a Whopper. It was delicious. I eat in moderation, have an active life, and there is nothing particularly insidious or evil about this food.

Some people just have to have their cause.

Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#85

Post by calydon »

If they cheat this much, it's basically lying. I mean, I don't care. Lie to me. It's better than the truth, frankly. I haven't eaten at McDonald's in years and this is just one of 100 reasons why.

However when she says 'we use the exact same ingredients they use in the store' that's a blatant lie. For one thing all McDonald's stores use slightly different ingredients (whatever can be bought at best market prices) and they definitely could never produce a cosmetically perfect burger using stock ingredients.

In addition, she doesn't tell you about all the non-food items that are used to make this look so good - hairspray for gloss, polymerized rubber for filling, etc.

I will add, gratuitously, the money McD's is paying looks good on her.

Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#86

Post by MattGrommes »

raganwald wrote: post #6
tptacek wrote: post #4

This is clever (if cynical) marketing from McDonalds Canada: take one of the oldest knocks against large-scale fast food (that's it's marketed dishonestly) and turn it into a product benefit: "it's ugly because we took the original product, which is beautiful, and then uglified it to make it taste better". One thing that makes this piece cynical is that the integrity of fast food promo graphics is not a new or pressi…

I understand there are specific laws about what they can and cannot show in a food ad in Ontario and/or Canada. They can do their own preparation, but I believe the ingredients must be identical to the ones in the actual product. So it must be an actual beef patty, and the ketchup and mustard can be squirted on carefully, but they have to be real ketchup and mustard.

I saw a food photographer explain that for soup they used to put marbles in the can to push up the meat/vegetables and they aren't allowed to do that any more. But they can (and do) pick through cans to find the biggest and best pieces since it's stuff that was actually in the can. It's an interesting exercise in dancing just on this side of the line.

Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#88

Post by verisimilidude »

pimeys wrote: post #69
wildmXranat wrote: post #43

Extremely demanding schedule of lately has forced me to sacrifice on the quality of my daily food intake, where I snack occasionally on fast food items so here are my thoughts: Biggest issue with fast food is sort of linked to the "uglification for the sake of taste", but let's get one thing straight: fast food quality and taste is damn bad. So that excuse is out the window. I've tried everything on McD's menu includ…

I don't even understand why people in USA go to McDonalds etc. I mean, if you want good burgers, USA is the paradise for them. E.g. while visiting Berkeley, one random burger joint called Bongo Burger was better than any burger I've eaten in Europe. I don't know how is it in smaller cities, but I would guess an American should know what's a good burger and what's complete rubbish.

To add insult to injury, there's a McDonald's within a few blocks of Bongo Burger (at Center St.) that's enormous and always packed. I'm not sure if we see this behavior because Americans are addicted to empty calories, or just don't want to venture outside their (dis)comfort zone to try something new, or what. It's sad.

Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#89

Post by mikeash »

ShabbyDoo wrote: post #31

I once saw a TV segment showing some starlet being photographed for a print clothing ad campaign. The stylist used metal clips (the sort one can buy at an office supply store for holding 50 sheets of paper together) to tighten the garment around her torso. From the front, the dress looked like it fit her perfectly. However, the back exposed a bunch of black metal clips holding back fabric. How does such an ad compare…

That sounds like more of a shortcut than anything. Clothes are available in a variety of sizes, and it's just faster to clips than it is to figure out exactly what size this model needs.

Re: Why Your McD's Burger Doesn't Look Like the One in the Ad

#90

Post by emehrkay »

ryanwhitney wrote: post #26
eykanal wrote: post #21

I'll disagree slightly with tptacek... this is a genius piece of marketing by McDonalds. It does everything that we routinely see listed on this very site as Best Practices™: - Respond to customer feedback in a friendly and highly transparent manner. - Don't sugarcoat things that "everyone knows but no one admits"; they could have avoided showing the graphic artist photoshopping the burger, but everyone knows that th…

You claim they responded transparently and without sugar coating anything. So what was the answer to the original question? Why does the ad burger patty appear thicker and larger? Edit: So many answers talking about how they might make a quarter pound patty look larger. Anyone can do that. I was addressing the fact that the video in no way covers why they look larger in advertisements. Sidestepping the important ques…

They dont cook the burger for the pictures, just the edges and outside of it.
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