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It's hard to believe now that I used to eat this crap on a regular basis. I hadn't had a fast food burger in six months or more, maybe a year, and then went and ate one and felt afterwards like I had been poisoned.
Then six months after that I tried it again. Figured the first time I just had an off day. Nope, felt poisoned again.
Don’t show what you don’t sell then. I have a lawn and snow business, if I ran ads showing a lawn completely mowed and driveway completely plowed. Then I show up and cut 80% of lawn and plow half your driveway, then leave and charge you full price. This is the same thing, misleading/lying to customers. I’d be fired soon after doing this. I do realize that not using said products again is the same thing as firing them, it’s just the fact that they blatantly lie to everyone. Is suing the only way to get this to change?
Really not anywhere close to the same - if they said the burger came with 2 patties and gave you one or said was 4 oz patty when really was 3 before cooking then you would have a case. But understand that puffery is allowed and every fast food does it - the chicken is always overflowing the bucket and the fries are overflowing the container in every ad but that is not reality.
"Puffery is an exaggerated claim made by businesses about their products. It’s not legally required for companies to be truthful in their advertisements, but if they make claims that are dishonest or misleading then they could face legal action from the FTC."
"Puffery is an exaggerated claim made by businesses about their products. It’s not legally required for companies to be truthful in their advertisements, but if they make claims that are dishonest or misleading then they could face legal action from the FTC."
In reading about it just for a few minutes it’s not clear at all to me that this would fall under puffery. Puffery seems to be defined as a opinion as in “We have the best pizza in town”, that can’t really be verified. Whereas false advertising is misleading and deceptive and can be verified. To me this falls under the latter. You can definitely verify that the meat on the commercial is twice as thick as the one you get. We’ll see what a jury decides.
“So whereas puffery often includes a value word that is a matter of opinion, a false ad contains a deliberate falsehood.”
“According to the National Law Review, the biggest distinction when comparing puffery vs. false advertising is that puffery is subjective while false advertising consists of objective statements. Objective statements are statements that can be verified.”
In reading about it just for a few minutes it’s not clear at all to me that this would fall under puffery. Puffery seems to be defined as a opinion as in “We have the best pizza in town”, that can’t really be verified. Whereas false advertising is misleading and deceptive and can be verified. To me this falls under the latter. You can definitely verify that the meat on the commercial is twice as thick as the one you get. We’ll see what a jury decides.
“So whereas puffery often includes a value word that is a matter of opinion, a false ad contains a deliberate falsehood.”
“According to the National Law Review, the biggest distinction when comparing puffery vs. false advertising is that puffery is subjective while false advertising consists of objective statements. Objective statements are statements that can be verified.”
Looks are all puffery because they are subjective - unless they say something that is false, likely not actionable.
Many burger commercials use the actual patties and other ingredients but make them look better. The patties are often only made to look like they are cooked so they appear bigger and juicier - normally only cooked just enough to look good but really raw in reality. Grill marks are added later using a hot skewer or a marker. Buns are picked from 100s of the best, sauces may have wax added so appear thicker, ingredients may sit on cardboard or plastic held by pins and hairspray so they appear glossier, thicker and don't move. The final photoshopped to remove any blemishes or make colors pop.
Unlike burger ads, there are many ads that do not use the actual product - Ice cream in ads is often mashed potatoes, ice is often plastic, steam is added afterwards, pancakes are scotchguarded to keep butter and syrup from soaking in and so on. Other items such as chicken or fries may be injected so look bigger and a filler at the bottom of the bucket or container so look fuller - you get the idea.
There were nearly 300 of these type of Class action lawsuits against food and beverage companies in 2021, according to NPR. One guy alone has filed some 400 of these over the years. Most are dismissed by the courts pretty quickly. The most recent one dismissed was for $5 M against strawberry pop tarts claiming that not enough strawberries because mainly strawberry flavoring.
This is unlikely to ever get to a jury, it is essentially a nuisance suit designed to gain the lawyer a few bucks to go away
Adam Richman has always been a great host on everything I've seen him in. He really loves learning about food, and more importantly, eating it and hoping the viewers can appreciate it like he can. And just like you should never trust a skinny chef, never trust a skinny TV food host...
Agree, he is a great host, especially with food. Watched him yesterday, only he cam make people crave Chuck E Cheese pizza lol
Looks are all puffery because they are subjective - unless they say something that is false, likely not actionable.
Many burger commercials use the actual patties and other ingredients but make them look better. The patties are often only made to look like they are cooked so they appear bigger and juicier - normally only cooked just enough to look good but really raw in reality. Grill marks are added later using a hot skewer or a marker. Buns are picked from 100s of the best, sauces may have wax added so appear thicker, ingredients may sit on cardboard or plastic held by pins and hairspray so they appear glossier, thicker and don't move. The final photoshopped to remove any blemishes or make colors pop.
Unlike burger ads, there are many ads that do not use the actual product - Ice cream in ads is often mashed potatoes, ice is often plastic, steam is added afterwards, pancakes are scotchguarded to keep butter and syrup from soaking in and so on. Other items such as chicken or fries may be injected so look bigger and a filler at the bottom of the bucket or container so look fuller - you get the idea.
There were nearly 300 of these type of Class action lawsuits against food and beverage companies in 2021, according to NPR. One guy alone has filed some 400 of these over the years. Most are dismissed by the courts pretty quickly. The most recent one dismissed was for $5 M against strawberry pop tarts claiming that not enough strawberries because mainly strawberry flavoring.
This is unlikely to ever get to a jury, it is essentially a nuisance suit designed to gain the lawyer a few bucks to go away
Mike Judge who worked in Silicon Valley and wrote the HBO series Silicon Valley, he had an episode about a lawyer doing basically the same thing. It was actually cheaper in the end to just pay his $100k fee he wanted to settle his meritless suit then to fight it.
Shrink. And it's the way with many products. What used to be a half gallon of milk or oj is now 48-59oz in the exact same container with the only thing being different are some numbers like oz. And 18 oz jar of peanut butter is now 16 oz. Microwave popcorn at the dollar stores used to give one 3 3.2 oz bags per box now they down to 3 2.4 oz bags. Used to get 64oz of laundry detergent now it's 48oz.
I guess if Burger Kings showed the content including weight even if tiny print that will probably be the get of jail free card. I've seen people lose it because the served product didn't look exactly like it did in the picture and demanded a new one.
Agree, he is a great host, especially with food. Watched him yesterday, only he cam make people crave Chuck E Cheese pizza lol
Let's not get carried away
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