Sneaky Ways Advertisers Trick Us Into Buying Their Food
Marketing companies spend billions of dollars every year to make their products look as appetizing as possible on your TV and phone screens. When you see a burger or a bowl of cereal in an ad, it has likely been meticulously styled by a professional. These professionals often use non-food items to create a perfect image.
Understanding these common visual tricks can help you make more informed decisions when shopping for your family.
Glued-shut burritos
When you see a burrito in an advertisement, every ingredient seems to be perfectly visible at the opening. Stylists often use hot glue to hold the tortilla in a specific shape so it doesn't leak or come undone.
They may also stuff the back of the wrap with paper towels to push the colorful beans and peppers toward the front.
Cardboard pancake stacks
A tall stack of fluffy pancakes often looks incredibly stable and upright in syrup commercials. The secret is that stylists place small circles of cardboard between each pancake to provide structural support and prevent them from squishing together.
Food stylist Lisa Bolton also recommends waiting to add syrup or other wet toppings until the last possible minute to keep them from creating a soggy mess.
Fake grill marks
The perfectly charred lines on a fast food chicken breast or steak are usually not from a real grill. Food stylists often work with raw or lightly steamed meat, adding color by using gravy, darkener, and soap.
Then, heated metal skewers or branding irons are used to achieve the perfect char marks. This allows the meat to look plump and juicy while appearing to have been cooked over an open flame.
Ice cream that won't melt
Real ice cream melts quickly under the hot lights of a photography studio, making it very difficult to film. To solve this problem, advertisers often use foods that look similar but don't melt, like mashed potatoes or vanilla frosting mixed with food coloring or syrup.
These mixtures holds its shape perfectly for hours and can be scooped into beautiful, textured balls that never drip.
The amplified "cheese pull"
That long and stretchy string of cheese you see in pizza commercials isn't all that it seems. Too achieve this amplified cheesy effect, food stylists will bake a plain pizza crust and cut it into the desired shape and slices before adding the cheese and toppings.
This prevents having to cut through freshly melted cheese. According to food stylist Lish Steiling, the best cheese to use is fresh mozzarella.
Drinks that "look" cold
To make iced drinks look incredibly cold, advertisers will often spray the outside of the glass with a mixture of water and glycerin.
This creates fake condensation droplets that stay in place for hours without running down the side, giving the illusion of a freezing beverage.
Being aware of these advertising secrets can help lower your expectations when your real meal arrives. It's important to remember that the goal of a commercial is to create an idealized version of a product rather than a realistic one.
By recognizing these visual manipulations, you can focus more on the nutritional value and taste of your food rather than just the appearance.