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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

#171

Post by ArtB »

potatolicious wrote: post #140
tptacek wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, I don't believe most of the urban legends about McDonalds, and there are things they do that I can even respect (for instance, their contribution to french fry science [really], or their [very, very, very, very] gradual adoption of humane farming guidelines.) But make no mistake that McDonalds is a business that is, if not as harmful as Philip Morris, gradable on the same scale. For the most part it's a com…

Can't we say the same things about just about any business? > "but there's a difference between an occasional indulgence" Indeed... > "and the business model that depends utterly on persuading the most persuadable people to harm themselves, for no other reason that they were persuadable" You've lost me. You compare McDonald's to Philip Morris - even though one produces a highly addictive substance and the other produ…

> Last I checked, burgers are non-addictive.

Well fats are addictive. Not in the you will die from withdrawl like heroin or alcohol way, but in the way that gamblings and sex is.

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

#172

Post by theDaveB »

I remember the first time my mum took me too a McDonald's and I got a big mac. When she bought the tray of food over, I though my big mac must be split into 2 cartons and I have to stack them myself. Little did I know my big mac was not going to be this massive burger I had seen in the adverts.

My uncle once complained saying the burger he received looked nothing like the one displayed on the menu, he got a full refund.

Dave

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

#173

Post by inportb »

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…

You're picking at the difference between the proximate cause and the ultimate cause of the ad looking the way it does.

    Q: Why does the ad burger patty appear thicker and larger?
    A: Because we made it *this* way [show process].
Sounds reasonable to me. Perhaps you wanted an answer more like,

    A: Because we wanted to show off all the ingredients in the
       best possible light, to encourage you to buy it.
It actually takes a few why/because cycles (i.e. root cause analysis) to approach the ultimate cause; for example:

    A: Because we made it *this* way.
    Q: Why?
    A: Because it makes the burger look good and it shows
       you what's in it.
    Q: Why?
    A: Because if the burger looks good and you know what's
       in it, you'd be more likely to buy it.
    Q: ???
    A: Profit!!!
Alas, the original question did not stipulate a particular kind of answer; I think the response, as given, sufficiently answers the question.

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

#174

Post by ktizo »

Hytosys wrote: post #158
tptacek wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody lives on Ben & Jerry's. Frito Lay is possibly even more morally fraught than McDonalds, since a large part of their business involves marketing themselves into kids lunches. I'm not sure where Campbells comes into this. It's not great soup, but it's soup. Obviously, there are people who think there's nothing wrong with a particularly successful marketing campaign for an unhealthful product. There are plenty of…

The real issue is that individuals lack self control and maintain ignorance, which leads to poor health related decisions. I see where you are coming from, but I insist that people should rely only on themselves in these cases. Placing the blame on businesses or government is particularly irresponsible. Note that I am not insinuating you make these poor health decisions, because clearly you are aware.

Businesses have thrown billions at turning the psychological research on persuasion into money and in the process have turned propaganda from an art into a science. They have a significant edge over the individual on this and have done it quite deliberately and in full knowledge of the aims, process and outcomes of these actions. I think they can afford to take some of the blame for the consequences.

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

#175

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#176

Post by ktizo »

walkon wrote: post #143
tptacek wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, I don't believe most of the urban legends about McDonalds, and there are things they do that I can even respect (for instance, their contribution to french fry science [really], or their [very, very, very, very] gradual adoption of humane farming guidelines.) But make no mistake that McDonalds is a business that is, if not as harmful as Philip Morris, gradable on the same scale. For the most part it's a com…

> For the most part it's a company whose core business model is "leverage unfathomably vast marketing resources to coerce large numbers of people into making the least healthful dietary choice available to them at any given moment". They don't coerce anyone to eat their food. What a ridiculous hyperbole.

Depends whether you accept emotional manipulation in the definition of coercion, or use the more strict definition and restrict the concept only to actual or threatened force.

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

#177

Post by hessenwolf »

jules wrote: post #168
geoka9 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't eat at McDonald's in Canada, but I really like to go there when I'm in Eastern Europe. It tastes so much better there. UPDATE: And I didn't like it in the US either.

I only have experience with McDonald's in Western Europe, and here the food is not good. The pattys seem like the meat was thoroughly grinded to a smooth paste. The bread doesn't have any flavour, and because it's in a closed package with the rest it becomes soaked and soft from the steam. The worst part is the cheese (if you can call it that -- it doesn't look or taste like cheese at all). The fries are okayish. On…

The price of beef varies pretty dramatically around Europe.

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

#178

Post by aapl »

kalleboo wrote: post #116
ff0066mote wrote: post #93

Ever been to Japan? The burgers and fries at McDonalds there are not lukewarm or squished like you get here in America, rather they're hot, toasted, and all puffed up. They're also more expensive.

Damn, now I'm really in the mood for some Mos Burger. Fast food that looks exactly like their pictures. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalleboo/5997808382/lightbox/

This also applies to Freshness Burger and Kua'Aina. I don't understand how the Japanese can pull it off but Americans and Finns can't.

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

#179

Post by UTHorsey »

I don't know if this has already been mentioned, but they didn't fully cook the burger. They just browned the sides for the photos, which gives it a much fuller look. Sure they may use the same ingredients, but the burger in the photo shoot will surely make you sick.

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

#180

Post by adgar »

ktizo wrote: post #176
walkon wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For the most part it's a company whose core business model is "leverage unfathomably vast marketing resources to coerce large numbers of people into making the least healthful dietary choice available to them at any given moment". They don't coerce anyone to eat their food. What a ridiculous hyperbole.

Depends whether you accept emotional manipulation in the definition of coercion, or use the more strict definition and restrict the concept only to actual or threatened force.

If you are accepting advertising as emotional manipulation, then say your real point: advertising is immoral coercion.

Or are you seriously going to argue that McDonalds has ads that are considerably more emotionally manipulative than other typical advertisers?

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