Burger King lawsuit over questionable Whopper claim moves forward

Many people can relate to purchasing a product after seeing it in an advertisement, and the same can be said about being disappointed by the product after seeing it in real life.

Making products look better or enhancing them in advertisements is a common practice in the industry, especially regarding food.

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Advertising agencies have confessed to not using the actual food item to make the advertisement look aesthetically pleasing to the eye and enticing to people’s ravenous appetite. Many might remember the using glue for milk revelation. 

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However, this leaves many wondering what the borderline between reality and illusion is, and how far a company can go before it crosses the line into deception.

Unfortunately for Restaurant Brand International’s (QSR) , it may have gone a bit too far and now some customers are out for revenge.

Burger King sued over deceptive practices.

Image source: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/picture alliance via Getty Images

Burger King is sued by its customers

Nineteen customers from 13 states filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in March 2022 against Burger King for allegedly engaging in deceitful practices. 

The complainants claim that the company was using false advertising in-store and online to promote Burger King’s Whopper burger, among other menu items, by making them appear bigger than their actual size.  

As stated in the lawsuit, the plaintiffs purchased Burger King’s products in each of their home states and were disappointed by the difference in portion size between the advertisement and the real-life product. They also claim that they wouldn’t have bought the burgers if they had been aware of the discrepancies in size. 

The accusers backed the allegations by presenting side-by-side images comparing Burger King’s former Whopper burger advertisement with the current ones and real-life photos, aiming to prove that “the burger increased in size by approximately 35% and the amount of beef increased by more than 100%.”

They also added that although the Whopper’s size increased materially in the advertisements, the amount of beef and ingredients didn’t for the real-life version.

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In its defense, Burger King claims that the “food in the advertisements has always been styled to make it look as appetizing as possible. That is hardly news; reasonable consumers viewing food advertising know it innately. This lawsuit unreasonably pretends otherwise.”

Additionally, the burger chain said that the description on its online menu clarifies how much beef the Whopper contains, which states that the patty is a quarter pound. 

Therefore, Burger King filed an order for the lawsuit to be dismissed immediately in August 2023, claiming the accusations were false and exaggerated. 

A ruling is made regarding the lawsuit’s proceedings three years later

Nearly three years after the initial lawsuit was filed, a ruling was finally made on whether to proceed with it or not, and the outcome may surprise many.

U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman ruled on May 5 that the lawsuit could proceed, agreeing that the claims “go beyond mere exaggeration or puffery” and may cause customers to be falsely misled.

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“The flame-grilled beef patties portrayed in our advertising are the same patties used in the millions of burgers we serve to Guests across the U.S.,” said a Burger King spokesperson in the company’s defense after the ruling was revealed. 

The plaintiffs seek monetary compensation for all the damages caused by Burger King’s alleged deceptive practices and for the company to stop creating overstated advertising or discontinue the inaccurately sized menu items.

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