Every now and then a delicious,
appetizing, and infatuating burger will appear on the TV screen between shows
and whatever food the viewers had in mind immediately changes to a trip to
McDonald. However, little did McDonald fans wonder the reality of McDonald
burgers compared to those on advertisements. Exactly how much resemblance do
the virtual and real burgers have? To answer the interesting, yet infrequently
asked question, an organization called Web Odyssem compared real burgers from McDonald
and those from advertisement, reaching the disappointing yet questionable
conclusion that a hyper-hyperbole is used in advertisements.
The primary strategy Web Odyssem used to
convince the viewers of McDonald advertisements’ exaggerated reality is through
juxtaposition of virtual and real burgers. The viewers, upon seeing the
picture, are immediately attracted to the incongruity of a handsome looking
burger on the left and a pale, even sickly, looking burger on the right. Upon
closer inspection, the viewers then realize the caption “advertisement” on the
left and “reality” on the right. The brilliant use of juxtaposition of two
dramatically different images allows the viewers to imminently realize the
drastic differences between real and virtual burgers and acts as a convincing
evidence for the organization to assert the fraudulence of McDonald
advertisements.
Despite the great use of juxtaposition,
Web Odyssem lacks one serious element to fully convince their viewers of McDonald’s
use of hyper-hyperbole: the missing of ethos. Though the picture is impactful,
there were no explanations on how the real burger is obtained. The words on top
of the real burger, saying “most attractive angle” and “slightly fluffed up”
may be effective to McDonald haters, but to an ambivalent person these negative
assertions, without any kind of backing, seem to be going too far. Real
McDonald burgers may not be pretty-looking, but certainly the best-looking real
burger is not that ugly of a mess.
See for yourself? Try a McBurger and find
out
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