# I Pit Fast Food Commercials **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 18, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-fast-food-commercials/326824 "2005-10-18T23:39:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-fast-food-commercials/326824/21 "2005-10-19T16:03:01Z")
[This](http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/knudsen/5.html) is what real food looks like when it is professionally photographed for advertising. I think I prefer faked-up prettified sandwiches. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-fast-food-commercials/326824/22 "2005-10-19T16:46:13Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > [This](http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/knudsen/5.html) is what real food looks like when it is professionally photographed for advertising. Thanks. I really didn’t need that appetite anyway. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-fast-food-commercials/326824/23 "2005-10-19T19:49:22Z")
In the early days of Johnny Carson’s reign on “The Tonight Show,” they used to do live commercials. One time, Ed McMahon did such a spot for Smucker’s Chocolate Syrup that featured the product being poured over what looked like a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream. After the ad was over, Carson looked at the still-solid chocolate sundae sitting under the hot studio lights and commented, “When is that thing going to melt?” McMahon then admitted they had used lard rather than real ice cream to make the sundae because it didn’t melt and looked better on camera. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-fast-food-commercials/326824/24 "2005-10-19T20:09:28Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > They say the camera adds 10 lbs. _Just how many cameras were **on** that Double Cheeseburger?_ /Frie[n]ds ---
**Author:** ![aamco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@aamco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aamco)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-fast-food-commercials/326824/25 "2005-10-19T21:23:20Z")
I thought this rant was going to be about how McDonald’s hires exclusively African-American actors with stereotypical accents in order to promote their “I’m lovin’ it” campaign. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-fast-food-commercials/326824/26 "2005-10-19T22:36:13Z")
I thought it was going to be a rant about the Burger King “King” That character just freaks me out. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-fast-food-commercials/326824/27 "2005-10-20T00:16:41Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I challenge you to whip up a delicious gourmet meal and photograph it in a way that even remotely looks appetizing. Happens all the time on Iron Chef. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-fast-food-commercials/326824/28 "2005-10-20T00:21:45Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > I thought it was going to be a rant about the Burger King “King” That character just freaks me out. It would be mildly amusing if the lumberjack in the current ad had the same reaction, and began chasing him through the forest with a chainsaw. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-fast-food-commercials/326824/29 "2005-10-21T20:19:31Z")
Quoted by Duckster: \*For example, if the photograph advertises a cherry pie, the pastry used must be exactly like all the other cherry pies the company sells; it cannot be larger or more filled or made from fake products or even a different recipe. However, if one of the cherries doesn’t look so good, the stylist can substitute that individual cherry with another one. \* Worse than that… I was once involved on a product shoot for some sliced sandwich meat. End result was one glorious sandwhich, proudly sitting thre with ham or whatever spilling out of it. To reach this point, the food stylist brought in six loaves of bread, a case of tomatoes and several heads of lettuce, in addition to a box full of the pre-packaged sliced meats - all in hopes of finding the absolutely picture-perfect slices of bread and whatnot. They actually made four sandwiches and later picked the best one, but by the end of the day, you’d not want to eat any of them as they’d been out all day long. Hamburgers are worse. Like with the sandwich bread, they’ll bring in dozens of buns so they can find one with just the perfect array of sesame seeds on it and the perfect toasty, golden brown color. Again, one of the gray ares is what’s being advertised. In the case of an ad for beef, they might actually mess with the buns - gluing sesame seeds in a different arrangement, or even air-brushing the bun a tad darker. In the case of fast-food hamburgers, they can’t mess with the bun as that’s part of what’s being advertised, so they pick the One True Bun. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-fast-food-commercials/326824/30 "2005-10-22T08:46:49Z")
There are some magazines who are devoted to the use of completely natural foods and they can put out absolutely stunning photos. Donna Hay is one that I recall off the top of my head. I remember reading an anecdote about a cornflakes commercial in which the photographer wen’t through 4 boxes of cornflakes one by one to get a bowl full of perfectly photogenic flakes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-fast-food-commercials/326824.md?page=1)