Why McDonald's Burgers Never Look as Good in Real Life as They Do in Commercials [VIDEO]

McDonald's

Behind the Scenes of a Fast Food Photo Shoot

You know how, any time you see a fast food TV commercial, the food always looks so good, so piping hot and yummy, so perfect?

And then, spurred by the delicious-looking food of that commercial, you go order yourself up a juicy burger, only to unwrap it and find that it's smooshed to about half the height of the TV version, with its condiments oozing out the side?

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You have just experienced food styling, my friend, a meticulously-plotted effort in which fast food giants like McDonald's go through a painstakingly detailed process to make their food look maximally enticing before photographing it for print and TV ads.

McDonald's public relations reps in Canada have released a video of the behind-the-scenes action at one of the company's photo shoots (shout out to Geekosystem.com for pointing it out), which begins with a marketing rep going to a McDonald's restaurant and buying a Quarter Pounder with Cheese to use, not in the ad, but as the model for recreating the perfect burger for the photo shoot.

As the rep points out, the average Quarter Pounder with Cheese is made in about a minute at a Mickey D's restaurant, but, for the photo shoot, the "crafted" burger -- which uses all the same ingredients used in the restaurants -- will take several hours to recreate.

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Why? Because for the commercial-version burger, the company wants all the ingredients to be visible, which means artfully arranging and melting the cheese on the burger, arranging slivers of onions and pickles so they're at the edge of the burger and then injecting squiggles of ketchup and mustard in just the right location on the bun.

Of course, Photoshop plays a big role, too.

A side-by-side comparison of the version you buy in the restaurant and the version recreated for the ad clearly illustrates the differences, but, yes, even the video of the photo shoot will make your mouth water for a McD's burger.

Check out the McDonald's burger photo shoot video below: