Burger King rapped over not so big Whopper
On the television screen it was mouthwatering and mountainous.
With two thick flame-grilled patties, ripe red tomatoes, crisp lettuce and crunchy onions piled high in a giant toasted bun, the Double Whopper appeared truly tantalising.
Unfortunately for its maker Burger King, however, the reality was a little different.
When inspectors from the advertising watchdog compared a burger made on the High Street with the version in the commercial, they found a smaller and sorrier snack.
In fact, the burger patties were so much thinner, and the lettuce and onions so limp, that the Advertising Standards Authority has banned Burger King from using the TV advert again.
In its ruling published today, the authority says the firm is guilty of misleading customers.
After receiving three complaints about the advert, its officers bought two of the burgers from restaurants in Central London.
"We noted there were several side on shots in the ad that showed the height of a Double Whopper," the ruling read.
"Although the ones we purchased consisted of two burgers, as in the ad, the thickness of the burgers, the quantity of the additional fillings and the subsequent overall height of the product was considerably less than was shown in the ad.
"We considered the visuals used in the ad were likely to mislead viewers as to the size and composition of the product."
A spokesman for Burger King defended the advert, saying: "Although the Double Whopper shown in the ad was produced in a studio rather than in a restaurant, it contained the same ingredients and was made to the same build and with the same procedures that applied in restaurants."
In the commercial, a man was shown wearing a harness and pulling along a truck, encouraged by the burger dangled under his nose.
The voiceover boasted: "The Double Whopper. Man that's a lot of meat."
This triggered further complaints from food and health groups, who argued that the ad associated the consumption of large amounts of meat with masculinity, and it was wrong to eat meat on this scale.
This was rejected by the authority, which said the Double Whopper contained a "moderate" amount of fat and one third of the calories recommended for a man in a day.
