Photographer Dario D was fed up with his fast food order not looking quite as appetizing as it did on the advert and decided to see how the food sold over the counter matched up to the promised product.
He bought burgers and tacos from some of the biggest chains in the United States and set them up in his studio for a professional standard photo shoot.
And the difference was clear to see.
Dario D found that most of the burgers he bought were not quite as tall as the adverts promised they would be.
In fact, Big Macs would struggle to fit inside their boxes if they matched their picture.
Another McDonald’s burger, the Angus Deluxe Third Pounder, would have the same trouble.
Dario D embarked on the project following: “a lifetime of disappointment, bafflement, and rage”, posting the results on his website.
He gave Burger King’s Whopper a few tries, but after slightly squashed results could only conclude: “They need to fire the guy who does his yoga on top of the Whoppers.”
In one side-by-side comparison, he showed the results of asking staff at different locations to make the Whopper look like its advert.
Photographer Dario D found that most of the burgers he bought were not quite as tall as the adverts promised they would be
“Both times, the cashiers turned and took strangely long, careful looks, as if nobody had ever requested that before,” he said.
“They said sure.”
Out of curiosity, Dario D complained about the “misleading” adverts.
A member of Burger King’s Consumer Relations Team replied: “One may find the Whopper Sandwich as pictured in commercials more attractive because during photo sessions, professional food stylists are used to ensure the consistency and appearance.”
It wasn’t just burger chains where the food failed to size up to its commercial counterpart.
In Taco Bell and Jack in the Box, the tacos were thin compared with the packed shells in the adverts.
Of the Taco Bell results, Dario D said: “Since these tacos are pretty dry and empty, I can only tolerate them with hot sauce, which, for me, is when they become good.”
With the help of a green screen and rotating chair, Dario D took each product’s photo at the most flattering angle he could before using digital software to show the advert and real product side-by-side.
Dario D said: “I gave the items as fair a chance as absolutely possible.”
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Apple has been ordered by a UK judge to publish announcements that Samsung did not copy the design of its iPad, according to the Bloomberg news agency.
It said the judge said one notice should remain on Apple’s website for at least six months, while other adverts should be placed in various newspapers and magazines.
It follows Apple’s failed attempt to block sales of the South Korean firm’s Galaxy Tab tablets.
Apple has been ordered by a UK judge to publish announcements that Samsung did not copy the design of its iPad
Apple and Samsung have not commented.
The order did not feature in Judge Colin Birss’s judgement published on 9 July, but Bloomberg said the matter was discussed in the court following the verdict.
It said the notices must make reference to the court case and should be designed to “correct the damaging impression” that Samsung’s tablets had aped the look of Apple’s products.
“They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design,” said the judge at the time.
“They are not as cool. The overall impression produced is different.”
However, the judge refused Samsung’s request that Apple be forbidden from restating its claim that its design rights had been infringed.
Judge Birss said that the US firm was “entitled” to hold the opinion that his judgement was wrong.
Apple has decided to stop using the phrase 4G in adverts for its latest iPad.
The description proved controversial because 4G is not widely available in the UK and the iPad will not work with it when it is.
The UK’s advertising watchdog and others around the world investigated Apple over use of the 4G phrase.
Apple said the confusion arose because of the ways operators refer to different high-speed mobile technologies.
When the newest version of the iPad was launched in March, adverts for the device claimed it would work with 4G, meaning fourth generation, mobile technology. The 4G in question was a technology known as Long Term Evolution (LTE) that was starting to appear in the US.
The UK's advertising watchdog and others around the world investigated Apple over use of the 4G phrase
However, when LTE arrives in Britain, the rest of Europe and many other nations, it will use different frequencies to those in the US meaning the iPad will not be able to use 4G everywhere.
The disparity led to many complaints. In the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) investigated and won assurances from Apple that its advertising would change.
A spokesman for the ASA said it had started a second investigation after consumers told it that the 4G phrase was still being used to describe the iPad’s capabilities.
The ASA had been “working closely” with Apple to amend the way the iPad is advertised, said the spokesman, adding that the consumer electronics firm had been very co-operative during the investigation.
“We will be checking the amendments to ensure they adhere to the Advertising Code,” he said.
Apple said the confusion had arisen because of the different high-speed mobile technologies dubbed 4G by operators and carriers.
Apple would change its terminology to remove this confusion, it said.
“Carriers do not all refer to their high speed networks with the same terminology, therefore we’ve decided to use ‘wi-fi + cellular’ as a simple term which describes all the high speed networks supported by the new iPad,” Apple said in a statement.
“The advanced wireless features of the new iPad have not changed,” it added.
