Convenience food that didn’t cut it


Fast food adverts always instantly make you crave a burger, burrito or crispy fries but so often the reality is vastly different. Food photographers have a stock of tricks to make dishes look more tempting so when you actually get your meal, it can be a huge disappointment. Here we take a look at the worst offenders.




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The advert: Subway Meatball Marinara


Juicy meatballs drenched in marinara sauce and sprinkled with Parmesan in a toasted sub – lunch doesn’t get much better. But has anyone ever had a Subway that looks as good as the photos?




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The reality: Subway Meatball Marinara


This version looks far more familiar. When they’re actually made in-store, wrapped up and transported home, the reality often falls flat. You unwrap the paper to a squashed sub that was, at best, messily cut and at worse, falling apart. We can’t see any grated Parmesan in this one either.




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The advert: Wendy’s Baconator

Imagine driving along and seeing this sign for the Wendy’s Baconator: two ¼lb beef patties, two slices of American cheese, six strips of seriously crisp bacon, mayo and ketchup, in a bun. You’ve got to stop and smell the bacon, right?




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The reality: Wendy’s Baconator


This person did stop in for a burger but it didn’t live up to the hype or its name. The layer of bacon and cheese between the two patties as shown in the advert is missing. However, we suspect by the time they finished the hefty burger, it wasn’t such a bad thing the extra piece of meat had been forgotten.




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The advert: Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Bonafide Big Box


This $5 chicken and biscuit meal was available at the Southern-style fast food chain for a limited time only but sounded like a good deal. It contains three golden tenders, two sumptuous sides such as Cajun rice and fries, plus a bronze biscuit. The boxes on display in the advert are so bursting we don’t think they would be able to close shut.




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The reality: Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Bonafide Big Box


However, the box customers actually received looked more like this – less full and a little anaemic. Despite all the batter (one thing that lives up to the advert), the chicken doesn’t have the same golden color and looks like it lacks crunch. The biscuits are unevenly bronzed as if they were baked without care.




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The advert: Jack in the Box Supreme and Sausage Croissants


For Gemini season, the days between 21 May and 21 June, Jack in the Box urged its followers to pick up two breakfast croissants for $4 and give one to your closest friend. The Supreme Croissant (on the left) is stuffed with grilled bacon, ham, a freshly cracked egg and American cheese. The Sausage Croissant (on the right) is the same but filled with a sausage patty, freshly cracked egg and American cheese. Both look tempting.




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The reality: Jack in the Box Supreme and Sausage Croissants


If you turned up bearing these, we reckon your friend would be disappointed. The croissants look more soft and claggy than crisp and flaky. Inside the Supreme Croissant you can see the processed ham but not long strips of bacon overhanging the pastry. The pallid patty inside the Sausage Croissant doesn’t appeal either.




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The advert: Taco Bell Triple Melt Burrito


A cheese-lover’s dream, the Taco Bell Triple Melt Burrito features Cheddar, pepper jack, mozzarella and nacho cheese, plus seasoned beef and rice in a flour tortilla. Look how it’s so full it’s spilling out of the wrap in the advert. And the best part? It’s only $1.




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The reality: Taco Bell Triple Melt Burrito


After seeing what the inside of a Triple Melt Burrito looks like in real life, we understand why it’s only $1 – it’s all rice. There’s a measly amount of ground beef in this whole burrito and no cheese that we can see. That’s pretty bad for a dish called the Triple Melt.




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The advert: Jack in the Box Grilled French Toast

In 2017, Jack in the Box introduced the French Toast Plate to its brunch menu. The advertisement makes it look like a gourmet dish of freshly-made, crisped French toast with syrup and hickory smoked bacon – something you’d find at an upmarket brunch spot, not an under-five-dollar fast food place.




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The reality: Jack in the Box Grilled French Toast


We know if we’re ordering takeout, we can’t expect it to come on a white plate like in the advert. However, served in takeaway packaging this French toast looks seriously soggy and unappealing. We can see where it was once sprinkled with icing sugar but quickly dissolved due to condensation in the plastic.




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The advert: Panda Express General Tso’s Chicken


This sweet deep-fried chicken dish was temporarily on the menu at Panda Express in 2016. The advert shows it bursting with fresh vegetables including green beans, red and yellow bell peppers and onions. It’s also covered in lashings of sweet, spicy and tangy sauce.




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The reality: Panda Express General Tso’s Chicken


This is what the inside of a General Tso’s Chicken box looked like in real life. It’s lacking all the fresh vegetable chunks that featured in the advert, with saucy stains and condensation up the side of a less-than-full box. We think the dish in the advert was given some serious food styling.




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The advert: Arby’s Classic Beef ‘n’ Cheddar


At quick-service sandwich chain Arby’s, the Classic Beef ‘n’ Cheddar is one of the most popular options. Roast beef is topped with Cheddar and red ranch, and served in a toasted onion roll. The advert depicts molten cheese dripping over layers upon layers of beef slices in a buoyant bun. Red sauce has also been strategically dabbed around the bottom bun.




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The reality: Arby’s Classic Beef ‘n’ Cheddar


Once you’ve rushed home and unwrapped your sandwich, the reality is often quite different. It has lost some height and where have those thick slices of roast beef and melted cheese gone? Why is the bun greasy? We knew the advert was too good to be true.




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The advert: Pollo Tropical Pollo Bite Sliders

In 2019, Floridian fast food chain Pollo Tropical added crispy chicken Pollo Bite Sliders to its menu. The snack came as a set of three buns with chipotle, buffalo or cilantro garlic sauce, alongside fries and a drink for $5.49. 




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The advert: Pollo Tropical Pollo Bite Sliders

It’s a good job they were only available for a limited time because you’d have needed to order all three, and three more! Disappointed customers of the Caribbean-influenced chain complained about their misrepresented size. In real life they’re no bigger than small chicken nuggets – see the key in this photo for reference. The restaurant should have shrank the bun or increased the chicken to stay to scale with the advert.




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The advert: 7-Eleven Chicken Bacon Ranch Melt


The ubiquitous convenience store is well-known for its hot bites including the Chicken Bacon Ranch Melt. It consists of sliced chicken breast, smoked bacon, Cheddar and ranch sauce in an Italian bun which is toasted when you buy it. The advert makes it look fresh and well-filled, displaying generous layers of meat, cheese and sauce.




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The reality: 7-Eleven Chicken Bacon Ranch Melt

This flat sub is what the Chicken Bacon Ranch Melt from 7-Eleven looks like in real life: dry, lackluster and the bread nowhere near as golden. The filling doesn’t appear as substantial either. We can’t see as much chicken, cheese, bacon or ranch dressing – we hope it’s in there but hidden.

Read more: Tasty fast food joints you probably haven’t tried




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The advert: McDonald’s Steakhouse Sirloin Third Pound Burger

Every time McDonald’s debuts a new burger, the advert makes us want to immediately run out and try it. The Steakhouse Sirloin Third Pound Burger was no different. The 3lb beef patty with creamy peppercorn sauce, grilled onions, sautéed mushrooms and Cheddar in a bun looked incredibly tasty.

Read more: Legendary fast food brands that fell by the wayside




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The reality: McDonald’s Steakhouse Sirloin Third Pound Burger

However, new menu items aren’t always worth the hype. It looks like there’s a lot missing from this burger. Where are all the mushrooms, onions, cheese and lashings of peppercorn sauce from the advert? It looks like a regular McDonald’s burger with a dry patty to us.

Read more: Starbooks to Duffin Dagels, the world’s most cheeky knock-offs




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23/23 SLIDES