* Smaller Than Advertised

Have you seen a Big Mac IRL that looks like this?

Few have, beyond food stylists and photographers.

But thanks to McDonalds' well-crafted communications strategy MANY MANY consumers have seen a picture of a Big Mac that looks like this.

Marketers have been creating desire this way for as long as pictures have been used in commercial and editorial communications.

Recently, a Federal judge in Brooklyn confirmed that this practice does not cross the line into “false advertising” because inspiring positive associations with stylized photography is so common, it can't be considered misleading.

The burger buyer who brought the suit made the (losing) argument that he suffered a financial loss by paying for a product that was materially different from that which was advertised.

The images, he claimed, overstated the amount of toppings and the size of the beef patties (for nearly every menu item, not only Big Macs).

While that is also true, it appears that it didn't meet the threshold for egregiously fraudulent misrepresentation in court.

Bottom line. You may be pleased to learn that advertising is still allowed to promise future happiness with some degree of elasticity.

After all, who wants a picture of what a real Big Mac looks like?

More here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/business/wendys-mcdonalds-burgers-lawsuit.html