this post was submitted on 12 May 2025
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There have been a lot of good documentaries about how food ads are made. One of the best was done for PBS though in Don’t remember if it was Frontline, Nova, or a different program. Here’s what I do remember:
Companies are required to use the actual food that’s for sale in the ad. So if cereal is the product for sale, it has to be the actual cereal. The milk can be fake (it’s usually something like Elmer’s glue because it photographs well and won’t cause sogginess). The ad company will buy multiple boxes and pick out the best flakes. The food stylist places the flakes individually for the photo.
In the case of burgers like this one, they buy up fifty burgers from multiple locations. They deep freeze them to retain shape and color. They pick the best components from each. They build a burger from these best parts. They front load the ingredients toward the camera. They also paint the beef patty with glycerine to simulate hot and juicy grease in the photo.
I've shot burgers for a similar company, and it's all made 'fresh' to spec next to the studio. The stylist will have ridiculous amounts of everything to choose the best pieces and place by hand. Deep freezing and rebuilding sounds bonkers, how would that even work with a burger?
It wouldn't The parent comment is at best by someone who misremembered the details, and doesn't know enough about food presentation to have been able to be able to recite the details back, or is at worst someone who is full of shit.
It's way easier to hand-pick each lettuce leaf and tomato slice than it is to order from a bunch of locations and try to freeze that complete burger in a specific moment in time.