Burger King Whopper lawsuit accuses chain of misleading customers

WASHINGTON — Four Burger King customers are suing the fast-food chain, alleging its advertisements exaggerate the size of the burgers it sells.   

The 26-page class-action lawsuit claims the company has been advertising its signature Whoppers to make them appear “approximately 35% larger in size, and contain more than double the meat, than the actual burger.” 

The lawsuit also alleges the company only began to “materially overstate” the size of its burgers in ads starting in September 2017.

“Although the size of the Whopper increased materially in Burger King’s advertisements, the recipe or the amount of beef or ingredients contained in Burger King’s Whopper has never changed,” the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida states. 

While the lawsuit focuses on the Whopper, it also claims “Burger King materially overstates the size of nearly every menu item in its current advertisements.” 

In a statement to FOX Business, a Burger King spokesperson said the company doesn’t comment on pending or potential litigations. 

This isn’t the first time Burger King has faced accusations about misleading advertisements. In 2010, Britain’s advertising standards watchdog ruled a TV commercial for Burger King’s Tendercrisp chicken burger misled viewers about the product’s size and ingredients. According to the BBC, the Advertising Standards Authority found the burgers’ thickness and overall height was “considerably less” than shown in the ad. 

In 2020, a federal judge threw out a lawsuit that accused Burger King of deceiving customers into thinking its plant-based Impossible Whopper was cooked on different grills than those it used to cook beef and chicken items, Reuters reported. 

The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages and an order to either block the fast food chain from selling the menu items or “to correct the deceptive behavior.”