Ounces refers to average fill

There is a current McDonald’s commercial advertising Iced tea.

The commercial is pretty good, and has a twist. I won’t touch that.

Instead, I take issue with the fine print.

McDonald’s advertises a 32 ounce tea for a dollar. The legalese says :

Ounces refers to average fill.

  1. How on earth can McDonald’s POSSIBLY know that?
  2. How many cups of Tea would they have to measure in order to have a valid sample size?
  3. How many cups of Tea have they actually measured?

4.Wouldn’t the ice cubes in ICE TEA take up space? Wouldn’t that put the 32 ounces in doubt?

  1. Average fill. So does that mean that a 32 ounce cup can hold 33 ounces?!

  2. Are people really going to sue over not getting EXACTLY 32 ounces? Why is the text necessary in the first place?

Because what the commercial is ACTUALLY referring to is the 32 ounce cup.
NOT how much tea the cup actually contains.
Legally, they need to cover their asses.

  1. What do you mean by that?
  2. A few. I assume the servers just fill it from a coffee style decanter and aren’t measuring it. So some cups have 28 oz, some get 34 oz, some have 32oz.
  3. I think this is the same as question 2. But in all reality they probably only measured one or two. I assume this is iced tea you’re talking about. They probably grabbed a 48oz cup, filled it with ice and measured how much liquid they could put in it.
  4. Yes and yes, hence the disclaimer.
  5. I’m sure they use a cup that’s larger then 32 oz or it would have to be filled to the very top.
  6. Yes. McDonalds is a HUGE company. Of all the customers they serve in a day/week/month/year, someone somewhere is going to sue them over it. Considering it’s free to add that little bit of text, why not put it in.

Also, I haven’t seen the commercial or the ad, do you have a link to it. Do they say you get 32 oz of tea or do they say you get a 32oz cup filled with tea…something different? Is this a cup you fill yourself and it’s then up to you to choose how much ice you get?

This is my point. Who is going to sue?

Are you kidding me?

McDonald’s is the largest and most noticed fast food company. It is the target for everyone. Governments, health groups, competitors, and nutcases.

Didn’t you see this thread in GQ? McDonald’s Really Messing With Me.

A conspiracy theorist wannabe eats more than he thinks he should at McDonald’s and spends an entire long thread shouting that he was being fed drugged food to boost their sales.

It’s nice that you don’t have any such worries, but that doesn’t mean that McDonald’s doesn’t have to be holier than the Pope in every single thing it does, every word it says, every commercial it makes, and every transaction with every customer. They know what the public is like.

Look at ATMB and the nutcase threads that are started there every day from a population of probably fewer than 1000 regular users. Multiply that by 100,000. That’s why McDonald’s does what it does.

Have you ever even been to a McDonalds? Or any other fast food establishment? :dubious:

99.99% of the time drinks are filled to the very top. Then they slightly leak out of the lid and get things wet and sticky.

Apparently, only you.

And if you order a 32oz soft drink, does it come in a cup that holds only 32oz or does is the cup slightly larger then 32oz to account for the ice?

“Warning, the beverage you are about to enjoy may be hot.”

That was different though. It’s my understanding that they brewed their coffee REALLY REALLY REALLY hot, like close to boiling, and the lady that spilled it had some really really really nasty burns on her leg. It’s not that she was short changed by 3 oz of iced tea.

ETA, I was wrong about the coffee being close to boiling but she did wind up with 3rd degree burns requiring skin grafts.

The amount wasn’t that much, considering that McD’s biggest seller is Coffee… I think the amount awarded turned out to be one or two days of coffee profit.

Wouldn’t know, I’ve never calibrated one, and I ask for no ice anyway, but when it comes down to it, the ice (if you take ice) is part of the drink, so IMO you don’t need to have a larger cup to account. You’re paying for a 32oz. drink, not for 32oz. of tea or Coke.