Are you MISLED by FALSE FOOD ADVERTISING?

[AviatorTom]

Burger King Whopper, as advertised (left) and the real thing (right)

In the United States, several consumers have brought lawsuits against companies for misrepresenting their foods. Burger King is the latest being sued for advertising their Whopper being shown much larger (and tastier) than the real thing, as shown in the above picture.

Burger King is not alone. Other companies are being sued for similar complaints:

* McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Taco Bell have been taken to court over their portion sizes.

* Wegman’s supermarkets was sued in 2019 for calling ice cream vanilla-flavored despite it containing no actual vanilla.

* Kellogg's was sued in a case alleging its Strawberry Pop-Tarts filling consisted of non-strawberry ingredients.

What do you think? Are you misled by food advertisements? What, if anything, should be done about it?

Updates

8 mo

You can also comment on a similar post at this link:
Should food look like it's advert? ↗

[RingOfFire]

Subway was sued bigtime for several different issues including putting an ingredient in their bread that is used to make rubber yoga mats. It cost them a fortune. It was a private family business. Now the chain was just sold to a private equity firm.

It's often not good news for the business when they are bought out by a private equity firm but we shall see.

[AviatorTom]

You're right about Subway, who was also sued because their "foot-long" sandwich was less than a foot long.

[RingOfFire]

Yep... that happened too. In those days when those accusations arose I used to eat there often... hope I don't grow a third eye.

Then there was their advertising spokesman who got arrested for molesting kids.

[lightbulb27]

of course, that's what marketing is to some extent.

pop tarts... I'm glad to hear that, those things were nasty decades ago, can't imagine today's version.

USA is such a sue happy country...

it's all junk... most of it. eat real food. we should all be trained in schools since the media has such a control on us.

[chrissykerdock]

burger king actually uses vegetables as their meat for most of their burgers... i don't doubt mcdonald's shrunk their burgers... and all have high prices... subway is expensive and they love to give you pickles even though you don't order it... overall take out food sucks more so now than ever before.

[Anonymous]

You didn't post a picture of a Whopper, the first one you posted a restaurant hamburger and the second one is a Big Mac.

This is a Whopper ad and a real Whopper below it, it looks pretty close.

[AviatorTom]

The pictures came from a news story about the Burger King lawsuit. If they're not a Whopper, somebody made a big mistake.

[Anonymous]

nah, i know all of the tricks of graphic design and that goes in play with marketing and all that. i know food doesn't actually look like that. it is designed to sell. i don't think you can actually sue over that. it's still the same stuff on the burger (besides the fake stuff to make it look better).

processed food is processed food. take the titles/descriptions with a grain of salt.

[Iron_Man]

They are all like that even Taco Bell one time, me, and my brother were showing a picture to the manager taking our order at the drive-through of the beef Chalupa picture from the Advertising. We took a picture off the TV compared to our beef Chalupa as well. Then she says well thats the commercial and me and my brother both laughed. It’s like what’s the point of this conversation that’s the commercial she says that’s Faults advertising.

[DryGermanGuy]

So, Americans are catching up after their disgusting fast food turned everybody into diabetic obese people? That's like suing tobacco companies after you got lung cancer.

[Tortoise_Lover]

My opinion is shut up and eat the damn food. Not sure why you'd expect a A1 presentation from a bloody fast food chain... Sigh... People never fail to amaze me...

[juliammm]

This is a pain, and not only in US.

I hope this misleading advertising stops one day.

[clampfan101]

No, because I always know they’re lying. Everyone in the business of food lies like this about every food they advertise. I don’t know what could be done. 😕

[Anonymous]

This Ad fooled me cause nothing happened despite both of us drinking it

https://www.youtube.com/embed/CKgKPGBa9EQ

[Sparkie460]

Their advertising is misleading but I know what to expect when I go there on those rare occasions.

[NathanDavis]

I don't even watch ads or commercials

[exitseven]

No, I know you can't put lipstick on a pig

[Sparkie460]

How do you know that? Have you tried putting lipstick on a 🐖🐷?

[exitseven]

@Sparkie460 I can't say that I have. My fsther used to have pigs too.

[Sparkie460]

Now I'm beginning to wonder if you can put lipstick on a pig

[exitseven]

@Sparkie460 I'm gonna try it someday.

[Sparkie460]

I've got a petting zoo near me. Maybe I should go there and see what happens. I don't think I'd go to jail

[exitseven]

@Sparkie460 you might make a new friend

[Sparkie460]

Hahaha 😆 😂