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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

#181

Post by knz »

mkramlich wrote: post #151

Anecdotal but related: over the last few years I've noticed a trend where I've been appreciating Chipotle more and more, and liking McDonald's less and less. At Chipotle's I can count on getting healthy fresh natural-tasting food fast, clean tables, and lots of good looking women among fellow customers. At McDonald's I increasingly experienced unhealthy stale, artificial/chemical-tasting food (sometimes fast, sometim…

McDonalds was a major investor in Chipotle from 1998 until 2006. If I recall correctly, Steve Ells (the founder of Chipotle) has said that this was one of the major reasons for the success of Chipotle.

Personally I think the fact that Chipotle produce the food in front of you also contributes to the sense that it’s fresher than other fast food alternatives.

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

#182

Post by ktizo »

adgar wrote: post #180
ktizo wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

My point was as I said. There are two main definitions of coercion, one of which is stricter than the other. I was just replying to the statement that McDonalds does not employ coercion by pointing out that it rather depends on which definition you choose as if you choose the wider definition then most advertising is coercive to one degree or another. I wasn't really talking about the moral angle, just the semantics.

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

#183

Post by tptacek »

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 cheese on a fast food hamburger is really more a condiment than an ingredient, serving a purpose somewhere in between "cheese" and "mayonnaise".

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

#184

Post by Codhisattva »

kevinh wrote: post #122
Codhisattva wrote: post #98

Has HN jumped the shark? #cantbelievethisisatthetop

Content like this has reached the top from time to time for at least as long as I've been frequenting this site (about three years). It's amusing to note that these comments generally come from people with new accounts. It's so prevalent, in fact, that the guidelines specifically state "If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. (It's a common semi-noo…

Well I didn't make any comparisons like that. Instead I implied an assumption about Hacker News that it's about news that interests hackers (in the lose sense of tech focused people). McD doesn't fit into that assumption. So ... something's gotta change (i.e. the assumption).

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

#185

Post by Evbn »

planetguy wrote: post #118
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…

McDonald's is in a fortunate/unfortunate position in that they can afford to have an ad campaign based upon honesty, because the unvarnished truth is still a lot better than the stuff that an awful lot of people already believe about them. I've heard many of these urban myths repeated in the wild by otherwise intelligent people: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonalds_urban_legends My favourite fact about most of thes…

McDonalds meat is corn filler and scraped off bones. It's below hamburger grade. You can't get it at the grocery store.

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

#186

Post by Evbn »

danso wrote: post #30
ryanwhitney wrote: post #18

It's a great marketing video for McDonalds, but sidesteps the actual question almost entirely. They respond to "why do your burgers look different in commercials?" by answering "here's the process of making a commercial burger." That doesn't address the fact that a stylist cooked it on a panini grill for an hour looking the perfect brown, leading to a thicker-width burger which indeed makes their advertisements a lie…

But it attacks an implicit accusation in that question: if the food in the commercial looks so different than it does in real life, you must be using different ingredients. Let's face it, the fact that this ad is getting a lot of talk will be a success, because very few people will watch through the whole video and many, many fewer people will actually keep the logical assertions straight in their head...but the 5-se…

Just remember that their burgers make you sick and aren't satisfying and you will be happier an hour later if you are a couple of granola bars and beef jerky instead.

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

#187

Post by Evbn »

ars wrote: post #128
larrik wrote: post #11

I happen to know that in the USA, they can (and presumably, do) use plastic replicas for their photography. (My wife saw the ones Dairy Queen used while she worked there. She says they look amazingly real, even up close)

And I happen to know that they can't. It's illegal. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4138305

Tons of restaurants have actual fake plastic food on display. The advertising rules apply to TV and billboards, not store images.

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

#188

Post by Evbn »

jff wrote: post #111
verisimilidude wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If I walk into a McDonald's, I know that $5 will get me a cheeseburger, some fries, and a drink. I know what it'll taste like, and I know the food will be ready in about 2 minutes. I'm sure Bongo Burger is amazing, and now that I've heard of it I'll have to try it next time I'm in Berkeley. But for all I know, a Bongo Burger might cost $10 and have a half-hour wait before they get my order cooked; that's not always w…

It's just weird to prefer something guaranteed bad over something possibly good. That's risk aversion for you....

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

#189

Post by etruong42 »

nicholassmith wrote: post #170
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…

I do a bit of a photography on the side and know a few working fashion photographers. Generally when you're supplied clothing from a company it'll come as a specific size, say size 8. You put out a casting call for a size 8 model that meets your specific requirements, and find that the clothes are too big for her due to sizing being weird. You then have to style it so it looks perfect and go from there, it's not so m…

I understand and support these tools and "tricks of the trade" when it comes to fashion shoots. My understanding and expectation of fashion shoots is to show what is possible instead of showing what is being sold.

However, I find the practice misleading in catalogs and in-store displays. The expectation in catalogs is to present the wares the seller is advertising. Using clips and pins misrepresents the product.

I really appreciate transparency and clarity in exactly how a garment is cut. Some sellers accomplish this wonderfully. One such seller is Mr. Porter. On their online catalog, you can see that some garments do not fit perfectly on the model because that is simply how the garment naturally hangs without clips/pin/tailoring. They also give the model's measurements so that you can compare your sizes to the models and a size chart. This has been enough for me to accurately judge how a garment will fit me even without trying it on! (Example: http://www.mrporter.com/product/301852 , select "Size & Fit"). Another website that does this is Amazon's myhabit.com

I don't mind GQ using clips and pins. GQ is presenting what is possible. A store, on the other hand, should show what they are trying to sell, and I believe using clips misrepresents their wares by obscuring the exact nature of their wares: sizing, cut, how it hangs, what would have to be tailored, etc.

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

#190

Post by vecinu »

blantonl wrote: post #134
vecinu wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal qualm with McDonald's lies in its nutritional and health values. Surprisingly, they have adapted their products to suit popular opinion (salads, low-fat items, etc...). I think McDonald's won't go anywhere even if humanity IS faced with a food crisis, since it's easy to make and cheap. I totally agree about advertising exposing a human's weakness. Regarding BMW, I know someone who purchased a BMW just to…

Regarding BMW, I know someone who purchased a BMW just to go to auto club meets and meet new people. I have to admit, that is a new one. Did he purchase an M5 or other super expensive/powerful BMW to go to auto club meets? Or other model? In some areas of the USA, a 3/5/7 series BMW is a run of the mill luxury car.

It is a 330ci ... this is Canada after all, most people aren't educated in regards to automobiles.

Like he said, most people think it's a much more expensive car than it is.

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