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The buns in McDonald's Japan's burger photos are all slightly askew

mcdonalds.co.jp

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Re: The buns in McDonald's Japan's burger photos are all slightly askew

#291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Japan, pictures of food are legally required to faithfully represent the actual food you get, AI-generated pictures wouldn't fly with their laws.

Not sure about this, given that sufficiently accurate plastic simulacra satisfy the law, right? Is it just that it can’t be digitally generated?

Not to mention the uniform tilt (1) isn't necessarily what they have in mind and (2) would likely be incidental on a case-by-case basis rather than having the exact same tilt applying to everything and (3) presumably there are lots of other incidental variations in presentation that are no more or less plausible than tilted buns (e.g. stray shred of lettuce or overextended drizzle of sauce or like 20 other things). You would think any given image would be a motley combination of those things rather than an exact repetition of one.

Re: The buns in McDonald's Japan's burger photos are all slightly askew

#293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to work in food photography (in an admin role). Sprayed on glycerine for condensation on cool things. cigarette smoke for steam. It was super nasty, but the photos looked good.

I was told once everything in those food photos in the United States had to be edible. You could substitute sour cream, but not glue, for whipped cream. I wonder if that was true.

In the US, photos of food must depict the actual product being advertised. So all the photos of burgers on the McD's menu are what is being sold, albeit with carefully selected "hero" ingredients skillfully assembled for the best presentation.

For a product that is only advertising one thing in a photo, e.g. an ice cream cone with ice cream on a package of just cones, I don't think there are any restrictions on what the "ice cream" can be made of. (It's probably mashed potatoes, though.)

Re: The buns in McDonald's Japan's burger photos are all slightly askew

#295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely all glue is edible, you just have to commit a bit more to some glues than others. It's like that saying about mushrooms: "All mushrooms are edible. It's just that some mushrooms you only get to eat once."

I was taught “Edible (fit to be eaten as food) vs Eatable (capable of being chewed up and swallowed)” but modern usage seems to treat them as synonyms (the former just being more pleasant to eat than the latter).

That's backwards, eatable is the stronger claim that means fit as food while edible just means safe to eat.

Re: The buns in McDonald's Japan's burger photos are all slightly askew

#296
post #70

A video posted by McDonalds Canada reveals how they stage the burgers for photographing them. They shift each layer backwards (bun, meat, etc) so that the ingredients of the layer are more visible when photographed. The top bun ends up being a few inches backward compared to the bottom bun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSd0keSj2W8

Nice video. Thanks for sharing. I gotta say, ever since I saw that comparison video of the Burger King CEO and McDonald's CEO eating their own burgers, I can't get the question out of my head: WHY DOES NO ONE AT MCDONALD'S EVER EAT THEIR OWN PRODUCT?

everybody i know that works at mcdonalds eat there at least once in a while. if you mean the ceo thats just your average top level exec with a private chef and a health nut wife who only eats out when its a place with a month long wait list and no prices on the menu. last time he had "normal people food" was way back when he was just a middle manager. its not because he knows its dangerous or unsanitary, he could always just tell the test kitchen people to make something that looks exactly the same but with organic fresh ingredients. he probably got to the point where even the concept of a burger sounds too low class for him.

Re: The buns in McDonald's Japan's burger photos are all slightly askew

#297
post #267

Japanese food prices are ridiculously cheap. Well that's true to pretty much whole Asia too. Even in HK which I consider more expensive than Japan a Big Mac is only 2.9€ (27 HKD). And that's McD, local food spots are even cheaper. If you have the money there is no better time to have a holiday in Asia. A Big Mac is 10€ in France... We are ripped off big time in the US and Europe for nothing.

France has a 12.02 EUR minimum wage, plus the high employer social contributions. We (it's a similar story in the UK - 14 EUR minimum wage) are indirectly paying a lot of extra taxes Not forgetting 20% VAT of course And our governments doing all they can to ensure property prices stay high and rise even higher (don't listen to what they say, look at the data)

how much is that minimum wage reflecting on the actual prices? from a google search the average location in france spends around 30% of its total expenses on wages and social insurance. if the total labor cost was half what it is (6eur minimum wage) that would imply around 15% lower prices, maybe 25 to be super optimistic.

the actual difference is more than 60 percent. hk is not really known for cheap rent and taxes cant fully explain the rest. what im trying to say is the insane prices in europe and usa are a choice.

Re: The buns in McDonald's Japan's burger photos are all slightly askew

#298

I like how it makes the burgers look more "laid back", like some cool sunglasses-wearing skater/surfer dude leaning back, or a pin-up model whose pose invites you in. Standing up straight is for the man and that's not how I want my burgers to be. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man

These burgers aren't working for the man

They're working for the mac

Re: The buns in McDonald's Japan's burger photos are all slightly askew

#300

I like how it makes the burgers look more "laid back", like some cool sunglasses-wearing skater/surfer dude leaning back, or a pin-up model whose pose invites you in. Standing up straight is for the man and that's not how I want my burgers to be. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man

I was thinking maybe this makes them look more American to a Japanese audience that lives in an orderly society.
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