To be honest, more than once you’ve gone to a fast-food place and been swayed by the promotional photos, even though you know they won’t look that perfect, they’ll be a mishmash of things, and certainly not nearly as appetizing. It’s happened to everyone. The moment of truth comes when you realize that the Maxi Burger XXL Deluxe BBQ is just a regular-sized burger. But of course, it’s like an unspoken game you have with the company and its marketing. Or is it?
You have to pay
In the United States (where else), there has already been a lawsuit against Burger King for inflating the size of its products in advertisements. Well, not all of its products, just one in particular: the Whopper, which, according to the lawsuit, is 35% larger in advertising than in the actual burger. And how do they achieve this? By adding ingredients to make it seem more packed and by doubling the size of the meat.
Burger King has responded by saying that it’s well-known that advertising isn’t the same as real life and that it doesn’t have to be “just like the picture.” However, for now, the judge has allowed the lawsuit to proceed on the basis that no company should deceive its customers with advertisements. Ha. Good luck with that. As a defense, the fast-food chain has claimed that the meat used in advertisements is the same as the meat used in any burger, something that, if you’ve ever had a Whopper, you already know is far from the truth.
This isn’t the first time Burger King has found itself in a strange legal situation. In the past, The Burger King, an existing restaurant in Mattoon, Illinois, requested that no Burger King franchise restaurant be located near them. And indeed, there isn’t one within a 32-kilometer radius. Interestingly, the restaurant has a very high rating on Google Maps (4.6 stars), so the decision seems to have been more than justified.
In fact, the issue of sharing the name in Australia led to their restaurants in the country being called Hungry Jack’s. These legal oddities are part of the history of one of the largest fast-food mega-corporations, and it remains to be seen if they can get away with it this time. We’ll have to wait and see (and eat).
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