America’s No. 2 Burger Chain Accused of Faking Its Ads

Fast food lovers take burger size very seriously. This can be evidenced by the range of lawsuits customers have filed over the years, suing everyone from McDonald's to Wendy's over serving burgers smaller than advertised. Now, another popular fast food chain is facing similar charges. Burger King, America's second-largest burger chain, is facing a whopper of a lawsuit. Here is what you need to know about the case.

Reuters reports that nineteen customers from 13 states have accused Burger King of overstating the size of nearly all menu items in its in-store and online ads, including its trademark burger, the Whopper.

According to the lawsuit, Burger King "advertises its burgers as large burgers compared to competitors" by showing them "containing oversized meat patties and ingredients that overflow over the bun to make it appear that the burgers are approximately 35% larger in size, and contain more than double the meat, than the actual burger."

The lawsuit notes that Burger King's post-2017 advertisements highlight the "increased size of the burgers." However, customers allege that "the amount of

contained in the actual [products] that customers receive did not increase," the document continued. Customers are ordering Burger King to "stop selling Overstated Menu Items or to correct the deceptive behavior," the lawsuit says.

While Burger King admits that photographers "styled sandwiches more beautifully" than restaurant employees do, the restaurant says that most people understand that menu boards always make items look as appetizing as possible. "Reasonable consumers, however, know that the entire point of menu board photos is to make the items look as appetizing as possible. Pulling ingredients forward on a sandwich before photographing it so that all ingredients are visible is not consumer fraud in Florida or anywhere," Burger King's motion reads.

U.S. District Judge Roy Altman in Miami ruled on the case, first filed in 2022, on Monday, finding it plausible that Burger King's ads could deceive "some" reasonable consumers in the proposed class action, and that Burger King's ads "go beyond mere exaggeration or puffery." In his ruling, he brought up the dismissal of similar lawsuits against McDonald's and Wendy's, maintaining that Burger King overstated the size of its products "to a much greater degree," citing post-2017 ads where the Whopper appeared larger than in earlier ads.

"The plaintiffs' claims are false," Burger King said in a statement on Tuesday. "The flame-grilled beef patties portrayed in our advertising are the same patties used in the millions of burgers we serve to guests across the U.S."