Burger King, a famous U.S. hamburger franchise, has been embroiled in a class action lawsuit by consumers for exaggerating and advertising the size of its flagship Whopper so that it looks larger than it actually is. The court decided not to accept Burger King’s request to dismiss it and to proceed with a full-fledged trial.
According to local reports such as NBC and Reuters on the 7th, Judge Roy K. Altman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida refused to accept Burger King’s request to dismiss the lawsuit and ordered the trial to proceed.
The lawsuit was filed by 19 consumers in 13 U.S. states in 2022. The plaintiffs claimed that “Burger King exaggerated most of the menu sizes.” In particular, he pointed out that “the Whopper in the advertisement is about 35% larger than the actual product and contains more than twice the meat patty.”
The complaint also includes a photo comparing the image of Burger King commercial with the Whopper they bought at the store. The plaintiffs said in the lawsuit that they were disappointed that the product they had not received was different from what they had expected from the advertisement.
“The photographers are just directing the Whopper to look more delicious,” Burger King said. “If you’re a reasonable consumer, you know the point of the menu photo is to make the food look as delicious as possible.”
However, Judge Altman decided not to dismiss the lawsuit and proceed with the original hearing, judging that “consumers may have been deceived by Burger King’s advertisement.”
Burger King said, “The direct grilled beef patties in the commercial are the same as those used in millions of burgers served to customers across the United States,” refuting that the products customers received are essentially not different from the advertisements.
JENNIFER KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
