A new thread to capture when what comes out of the packet looks nothing like the picture…
Here’s one to kick off via Twitter, this Christmas tree:
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Already been done, and that should provide many examples: Product vs Packshot - The Checkout - ABC TV Unfortunately the web page is not working for me right now but maybe you could get examples by watching back episodes.
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I’m guess items need better instructions. You need to pull open the branches and “flock” the tree. It will be significantly fuller once that is done. He’s taken it straight from the box and taken a photo. Absolutely user error. Quite commonplace now-a-days.
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My friend was bitterly disappointed yesterday when his $10 Hungry Jacks chicken burger barely resembled the image.
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Gotta love that smokey BBQ sauce. Well you really do, since it seems to be the star ingredient.
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Assume the real life is the same product. There is a distinct difference in the sesame seeds appearing in the real life pic and those in the promotion. Are the seeds in the real life pic jumbo sized, or is it a mini bun. There are many more seeds of a much smaller size evident in the promotional burger shot.
Reality is I’ve yet to see a burger that comes close to resembling the promotional shots. These are deliberately stacked and colour coordinated to emphasise the product ingredients.
Doing burgers at home the most appealing presentation is like an open sandwich with key ingredients stacked across the two open halves. This leaves it for everyone to make their own choices of sauces/mayo. Once done the two halves folded together soon resemble the classic squashed bun with sauce and juices oozing out the sides.
It looks like Jacks have added value by completing all these tasks in advance, to better serve the customer. 
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If you remove the bun top from the second image, the photos could represent the same burger before and after going through the human digestive process.
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It’s hard to know. They have been photographed with different lenses from different distances which alters the size and perspective.
Also, just as the advert exemplar has been posed to look good the righthand one could have been plonked down any old how. It has been wrapped which will squeeze the buns down and spread the sauce. It looks like it doesn’t have a bottom on the bun; unless that is missing it has been squeezed behind the meat.
Aside from obvious cosmetic differences it is hard to say what is going on. The camera does lie unless you are at pains to make sure it doesn’t.
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I sympathise. Though people have to realise that unless the burgers are premade in a factory so they can all look exactly the same, I’m afraid you have to put up with human creations who don’t have an artistic flair. As long as ALL the ingredients are represented somewhere in the burger then who cares.
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We eat with our eyes, some often suggest?
Self evident from how the products are marketed.
Although once on the way down it all winds up looking very much the same.
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If you ever get the chance, try a MosBurger ( Japanese chain, but there is a store in Adelaide St, Brisbane ), or Lucky Pierrot in Hokkaido, Japan. Their burgers are the only examples I have found where they look uncannily like the ads.
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Yes, I forgot, pre-Covid a special treat. I’ve not ever considered them as competition for the laughing clown et al. In a league of their own. Except for Japan where the benchmarks are very different in our experience.
Others could learn something from the masters of presentation, on the plate, and in the shop front. 
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Here’s one from last year. Don’t know if the product is still on sale as surprisingly enough, I haven’t gone back for another 
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When the promotionl shot is printed on cheap paper and stuffed into my letterbox, I’ve rarely tasted a burger (from the big chains) that is as good as its promotional shot …
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I find the coloured pics on glossy paper are very chewy.
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A friend has a similar issue with profiles posted on dating websites.
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When does anything ever look like it should when buying. Especially frozen meals we, are all being tricked. The tree looks nothing like in the image. Maybe it deserves a shonky award.
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Is that the vegan TV dinners? I don’t buy them.
Fool me twice, Uncle Toby’s…I bought this cereal recently because it was half price, and it gave me a bonus credit for Masterchef cookware at Coles. When I opened it, I felt like a dunderhead, because I bought it once before and struck the same issue.
This cereal appears to be around 50% bran bits, which is too much for this body to take, if you get my drift…!
I don’t think the picture on the box really conveys that, and it’s certainly not a major selling point as part of the ‘extras’ - PROTEIN, oat clusters, sultanas, peach (which, by the way, are hard little pieces that sink to the bottom of the bowl and are nearly impossible to get onto your spoon!).
So, this time, when I hand-picked all the bits out, I wanted to do a comparison of ‘all the rest’ and the bran. And there it is…
So, I’ve taken ‘all the rest’ and chucked it as a topping on my (yes, yes, full of sugar) Crunchy Nut Cornflakes - delicious!!
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A useful illustration of the contents vs the serving suggestion on the pack.
Yes, given the ingredients listing says,
Few cereal products offer reliable pack shots. A great reminder it can pay to read the ingredients list if one has particular needs. Whole grains wheat and oats make up 50% by weight. Just 3.4gms or 11% of the RDI of fibre in a single serve. Considering a medium apple with skin on contains around 4.5gms there are plenty of alternatives if one needs more. 
Plenty of options with all the benefits of fresh fruit vitamins and antioxidants for those not into a cereal laden breakfast.
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