Last fall, McDonald’s faced a tidal wave of consumer criticism over downsizing. Fans were fed up with rising prices and shrinking burgers. Now, McD’s has released the first real product of its long-awaited ‘burger reform’ program…
Evidence photos from the Burger King lawsuit: What you get vs. what they advertise…
The protests came in the midst of outcry by fans of several major burger brands – notably McD’s and Burger King – and a flurry of lawsuits. The legal actions claimed the burger purveyors were using misleading and deceptive photos of their menu items in their advertising. BK was especially hard-smacked with accusations.
Side-by-side photos of ‘what they advertise’ and ‘what you get’ pretty much sealed the deal.
McD’s ‘does the right thing’
It’s what the chain is calling a ‘larger’, ‘more satiating’ burger. “We’ll be testing this burger in a few markets later this year, ensuring that it has universal appeal before scaling it across the globe,” McD’s CFO Ian Borden told FOX News.
“We think we’re going to be able to deliver a great tasting large burger at a superior value to what [customers] can get anywhere else,” McD’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said.
The new burger is undergoing final tweaking at the chain’s Chicago headquarters Test Kitchen. It will probably be test marketed later this year, before being flooded out across the chain.
What IS the new McBigger Burger?
Okay. There’s no official name yet. But what’s more frustrating is, there’s no detailed description of it, either. That’s probably because they’re still tweaking the design. But if the complaints of consumers raised last year are any predictor, I think we can expect larger, bun-filling patties and more toppings.
Whether it’s just one token ‘reform burger’ or a whole family remains to be seen.
My take
I’d like to think they’ll add a ‘One-Third Pounder’ to the burger line. Maybe upgrade the Quarter Pounder. That would be a significant move – and a very visible one, for promotional purposes. And how about a ‘Bigger Mac’? (See photo, top of page: The Double Big Mac, largest McBurger to date.)
That would be fun. But what I think we’ll see is a larger version of the basic burger patty, resonating through the whole basic burger family.
And while they’re at it, I wouldn’t put it past them to reduce the size of their other burgers’ buns to match the diameter of their patties. That would at least protect them from future allegations of deceptive and misleading advertising…
~ Maggie J.