This is a great example of the difference between advertising and the actual experience of the brand. Thanks to things like the internet, we can not only document things like this, but share them with the whole world in an instant Ad brands don't know how to handle this kind of criticism. And what it most surprising is how quickly companies cut their staff, which is the way to combat this kind of problem. Make sure you check out the pictures and feel free to post your own picture pairs and let’s see if we can get lots more of them going. Thanks to AdPulp for the tip!
Each item was purchased, taken home, and photographed immediately. Nothing was tampered with, run over by a car, or anything of the sort. It is an accurate representation in every case. Shiny, neon-orange, liquefied pump-cheese, and all.
Link: Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality.
The pictures are amazing, and some assemblies clearly fare better than others, when compared to their food-styled advertising image.
I think the real challenge here is not to advertising per se -- it's to be able to create foods that look appealing and beautiful even after being wrapped and transported.
Even if you choose to eat it on-site, part of the lunchbag letdown phenomenon is when you see your taco salad or whatever, and it doesn't look nearly as delicious as you were hoping. Performance below expectation = low satisfaction levels.
McDonald's once introduced a sandwich in two pieces that you assembled... McDLT. But it needed a huge styrofoam container to pull off "crisp freshness" at the same time as "hot". Clearly no longer acceptable.
Posted by: SusanA | April 19, 2007 at 10:05 AM