Burger King’s taking a partial ‘L’ in court … a judge says they’ll have to go to trial over a lawsuit alleging their Whopper ads are misleading — AKA, size matters here, folks.
This has been cooking for about a year now — a class action lawsuit was filed in 2022 taking aim at BK’s signature hamburger and how it’s been portrayed … specifically its size, which the class action plaintiffs believe amounts to false advertising.
The suit alleges Burger King’s been showing off massive Whoppers in just about all of their promotional material — from TV spots to online pages and other forms of advertisement — and that they’ve been duping customers by giving them itty-bitty Whoppers IRL, which pale in comparison to the ads.
As a result of this alleged deception … the lawsuit claims Burger King has been getting rich off the backs of their patrons for a long time, which they say violates a ton of laws and regulations that food joints have to abide by.
Now, as far as the judge’s ruling on how this is gonna shake out … he signed off on parts of the lawsuit proceeding, but not others. Hizzoner says Burger King will NOT have to answer to the claims pertaining to their online/TV ads — which the plaintiffs claimed were a big part of their alleged scheme … nor will BK have to combat the consumer-protection law claims.
Those specific parts of the suit were tossed, at Burger King’s request, but other parts of the lawsuit — which BK also wanted dismissed — have been given the green light to proceed … which is bad news for His Royal Fry-ness.
The remaining claims that’ll be brought before a jury are big ones … breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment. Now, if you’re wondering how that works (since the judge nixed the TV/online ads as part of the equation) … remember, there’s still print ads in the mix — specifically, Burger King’s in-restaurant menu photos of the Whopper, which these folks claim were also super-sized and a major part of BK’s campaign.
In short, BK couldn’t totally have it their way in court — and the people will decide.
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