Burger King faces lawsuit for 'misleading' customers with Whopper ads
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United States: Fast food giant Burger King is being sued by at least 100 patrons in the United States for misleading customers through its advertisements. The federal lawsuit, filed in Southern Florida, alleges that Burger King has misled customers by portraying its food as being much larger compared with what it has served to customers in real life.
The suit, brought by attorney Anthony Russo, alleges Burger King began inflating the size of its burgers in images around September 2017. Before that, the suit claims, Burger King "more fairly" advertised its food products.
The 26-page class-action complaint also features side-by-side comparisons of menu items and their ad images, which appear bigger.
"Burger King advertises its burgers as large burgers compared to competitors and containing oversized meat patties and ingredients that overflow over the bun to make it appear that the burgers are approximately 35% larger in size, and containing more than double the meat than the actual burger," according to the complaint, as reported by Fox Business.
The lawyers representing the patrons told Fox Business that they want Burger King and other fast-food chains to advertise their menu items in a way that's closer to reality.
It cited a Twitter post from a Lynnwood-based user, which showed side-by-side photos of a Whopper Melt advertisement and the real photo of the burger.
"Am I a joke to you, @BurgerKing?" the user named Colin J McMahon wrote in the post, dated March 14, pointing to the jarring comparison shots.
The other food items mentioned in the complaint that "mislead" the customers are Croisann'Wich and Double Sausage sandwich.
Burger King began operations as a small burger chain in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1953. It is owned by Restaurant Brands International.
So far, the company has not reacted to the development. In a statement to Fox Business, a company spokesperson said the corporation "does not comment on pending or potential litigations."