Friday, April 24, 2009

How can you tell Ronald McDonald at a nudist colony?


Models are so fake

Here's another one to file under "Stuff I Wish I'd Thought of First."

It seems someone with arteries of steel went out and bought a bunch of fast food items to see how they compared with the glossy magazine version. And much hilarity ensued.

I think my favorite is the mentally challenged-looking Big Mac, though I actually felt sorry for the Arby's Beef 'n' Cheddar... If sammiches could talk, that one would be begging to be put out of its misery.

(Thanks to reader Patchy for the heads up. At least I think he's a reader... If not, he can take a flying leap and I'll take full credit.)

10 comments:

K said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
K said...

The funny thing is that this advertising approach works. You may buy what is actually a gloppy soggy burito, but what you're consuming in your mind looks a lot more like the model.

It works with politicians as well. Instead of the wise light working eloquent candidate espousing a dislike for "big government", what you get at the drive thru window is a corporatist activist TOTUS at the controls of the country, to which most Democrats continue to smack their lips in delight.

Anonymous said...

We have to trust Patchy that the "after" photos are legit.
Being a photographer, I can appreciate the skill that went into photographing the "before" photos of food. I suspect a little photoshopping going on as well.
The "after" photos are all taken with direct flash, by less-than amateurs. Come on, morgue photos are direct flash. Direct flash is the most unflattering type of lighting.
Notwithstanding, the "after" foods all look like those deep sea fish pulled up from the ocean floor. I wish they had tagged a pair of those teddy bear eyes on them.....
Once my VW bug broke down in Clovis. While I waited for a tow, I went to the nearest McDonalds and ordered a Big'n'Tasty. What I got looked like Patchy's photos. I took it back to the counter and asked the cashier why my sandwich didn't look like the one in the photo on the menu above and behind her. She smiled knowingly, shrugged her shoulders and said "I don't know."

Lessons:
*Food photography should be done only by experts.
*"Puffery," look it up, is a term in advertising for lying that is protected by the first amendment.
*You get what you pay for.
*Don't eat at chain/franchise restaurants. Do the mom & pops.

-CI Photog

Splash said...

They look legit to me. I've never opened a single fast food wrapper that revealed anything other than that.

Still tastes good, tho. Usually. The "Big and Nasty" notwithstanding.

I saw a 20/20 type deal once that said everything you see in a food photo shoot is basically inedible. It's all shellac and stuff to create shine and withstand the hot lights for the time needed for the shoot.

In-N-Out burgers always look as good as they taste. Which of course is fantastic.

Anonymous said...

Perseptive, Splash. I shoulda watched that 20/20 instead of getting a college loan.
Glycerin, indeed. Gotta make the food look mouth-watering. A glycerin-covered carburetor would look appetizing. Also, light a cigarette, inhale, then blow a puff of smoke on the product to make it look like it's piping hot.

-CI Photog

Anonymous said...

All items on the Arby's menu are the same. Two slices of bread and a few slices of roast beef.
If you order a western bacon sandwich, you get two slices of bread, a few slices of roast beef and a foil pouch of western bacon sauce.
If you order a smoked hickory sandwich, you get two slices of bread, a few slices of roast beef and a foil pouch of smoked hickory sauce.
If you order an Irish shamrock roast beef sandwich, you get two slices of bread, a few slices of roast beef and a foil pouch of Irish shamrock sauce.
If you order a roast beef with turkey, gravy, dressing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie sandwich, you get two slices of bread, a few slices of roast beef and a foil pouch of turkey, gravy, dressing, cranberry and pumpkin pie sauce.
Extra pouches cost 5 cents each. --CI Photog

Splash said...

Nice take. Arby's is the worst. (Don't tell my wife that, though. Loves her her slices of bread and roast beef.)

Anonymous said...

Mini Sirloin Burgers.
This is tempting, but I think I can resist. After looking at the photos of the burgers, and knowing what to expect after seeing Patchy's post- the things probably actually look like dog food in between two biscuits, and the top bun is on crooked, and the cheese looks slimy.

The tune is too much....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut0WDb-xzks
--CI Photog

Splash said...

"...herding cows the size of Schnauzers but they're cattle!"

They play this one during Giants games all the time now. Jack In the Box keeps putting out the funny ads year after year.

Here's the other good one they have out at the moment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUYhcYw1ksw

Anonymous said...

The best JACK in the Box commercial......http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLkVCn2gxcw&NR=1

--CI Photog