Burger King Lawsuit: Why The King Is Under Fire For The Size Of Its Whoppers

Burger King has found itself embroiled in a lawsuit by consumers challenging the chain for the size of its Whoppers, claiming they are deceptively larger in advertisements.

According to the lawsuit obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the meat in the burgers that Burger King shows in advertisements and menu illustrations is much larger than what a consumer actually receives.

The suit, which was filed in a Miami district court, goes on to say that “Burger King materially overstates the size of nearly every menu item in its current advertisements.”

The consumers who filed the complaint against Burger King contend they would never have ordered the burgers if the photos would have shown the actual size of the menu items, saying they were “much lower in value than what was promised,” according to the Seattle Times.

The suit points to nearly all of Burger King’s sandwiches as being exaggerated, including all Whopper-branded sandwiches and all of the croissants as well as traditional hamburgers and cheeseburgers.

However, the lawsuit does say that before September 2017, Burger King “more fairly advertised the size of the Whopper on its website and store menus,” the news outlet reported.

This is not the first time that Burger King has been under the microscope for overstating its burger sizes.

About 12 years earlier, the U.K. advertising regulator ordered the chain to stop advertising the Tendercrisp burger on TV after it found the thickness and height of the burger were “considerably less” than stated in its advertising.

Burger King also found itself at the center of a lawsuit in 2019 over its meatless Impossible Whoppers, which a group of vegans claimed the chain promoted as vegan but were cooked on the same grill as its beef-based Whoppers. The lawsuit was dismissed after it was proved that Burger King never promised those claims.

Plaintiffs in the Whopper-size case are seeking damages on behalf of millions of consumers, who they say have suffered financially because they have been deceived by Burger King’s photos into purchasing the comparatively smaller sandwiches. They are also asking the restaurant chain to replace the photos with ones that are of the actual size of the burgers.

“Burger King advertises its burgers as large burgers compared to competitors and containing oversized meat patties and ingredients that overflow over the bun to make it appear that the burgers are approximately 35% larger in size and contain more than double the meat than the actual burger,” the suit claims.