A deserved lawsuit for Burger King and a message to the fast-food industry?
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Burger King's Whopper
388 Words | 1 Min 38 Sec
Since the dawn of the fast food industry, I feel it has become customary to produce and distribute hyperbolic communications content. To name a few popular franchises, KFC and McDonald's partake in this devious exercise where they share mouthwatering images of their food. However, when it's reached your hands, it bears no resemblance. I would assume it captures the same feeling when you're meeting someone you've been speaking with online and they look nothing like they are in photos (I haven't been there personally).
If you have fallen victim to this, then do not fret as a lawsuit has been filed against Burger King for this very reason. Consumers have identified that their adverts portraying a disproportionate, albeit favourable, burger-to-condiments-to-bun ratio fail to live up to standards and are smaller in real life.
Someone Better Call Saul (for advertising)
The class action lawsuit filed against Burger King alleges the Whopper is 35% smaller than what is seen in the menu and advertisements. Take a look at the picture below - do you think this is 35% smaller? I personally think so.
The REAL Whopper
Burger King audaciously denied that the actual burger reaching the consumers has to resemble the picture. That statement alone deserves a 'hold up' moment because that fundamentally subverts advertising in the fast food industry - we will get to this in a minute.
The lawsuit has been left for the jury to decide and establish a reasonable outcome. In my opinion, the outcome should encourage ethical marketing practices to be implemented and perhaps tighter regulatory barriers - maybe someone or something (AI) can compare the advertisement material to the actual product. Perhaps a misleading meter?
Subversive Comments Made by BK
As aforementioned, Burger King's comment is ludicrous. The purpose of advertising when framed in the fast food context, is to capture and convey what your customer expects to purchase and subsequently devour.
If consumers are getting a half-assed burger, in plain that's materially misleading.
Burger King and companies alike should be held accountable for their hyperbolic approach to advertising and ensure they are transparent with what's advertised and what the end-user receives. As I was typing this blog post I was reminded of this whimsical video of a man ordering food from a range of fast food franchises and kindly requesting employees to remake his meal to bear the resemblance of its advertised look - check it out below.
Fast Food ADS vs. REALITY Experiment (MediocreFilms)
Contextual Notes Video game marketing is a fascinating and intricate domain, far more complex than I initially realised. As someone who aspires to work in this field, I felt compelled to resurface the Cyberpunk 2077 incident in 2020 from a marketing persepctive. This blog post strongly originated from a thought-provoking YouTube video titled " Video Game Marketing Needs to Change " by a publisher called Burback. In this video, Burback critically scrutinises the fundamental relationship between developers, publishers, and audiences, shedding light on the "false relationship" established when audiences are captivated by a barrage of enticing promises through marketing efforts that ultimately fail to materialise. Notably, the video takes a well-deserved shot at CD Projekt RED's once highly anticipated title, Cyberpunk 2077 (2020), which strongly exemplifies this issue. So, why does the delivery of video game marketing often fall short? The challenge lies in promoti...
To my loyal Communications Corner readers, I'm alive and well. I've just been busy with a lot of things which I'm thankful for. I plan to disclose my absence in future blog posts, but for now I'm in the process of researching and writing a long-form blog about video-game marketing. 👾🎮 Unfortunately, it has taken longer than expected but I plan on getting it completed by Monday 24th July. Only once that is posted, I will return to my short-form and constant blog postings. I wanted to try writing a long-form and in-depth blog post but given my busy schedule nowadays, it's best I stick with shorter blog posts. 📝 This epitomises the notion of trying new things out and seeing whether it is effective or not. In this case, I tried planning and writing a longer blog post and learned it doesn't coincide well with my schedule. Don't worry though, I'm still looking forward to posting it. 🌳 See you all soon, Nima Shiralizadeh Communications Corner, Founder
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