alt.hn

4/15/2026 at 9:48:18 PM

The buns in McDonald's Japan's burger photos are all slightly askew

 https://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/en/menu/burger/

by bckygldstn

4/15/2026 at 11:21:37 PM

OP, I love not just that you noticed this, but that you thought to post it here too. HN is the best.

by rappatic

4/16/2026 at 12:26:02 AM

Yes! It's genuinely fascinating, and it's the kind of thing I trust this community to talk about in a reasonable way which is not quite always the case (Mozilla, many politics topics). But this feels like, potentially, AI prompting or even more interestingly an intentional stylistic choice.

by glenstein

4/16/2026 at 9:34:46 AM

In Japan, pictures of food are legally required to faithfully represent the actual food you get, AI-generated pictures wouldn't fly with their laws.

by rschiavone

4/16/2026 at 1:57:54 PM

Not sure about this, given that sufficiently accurate plastic simulacra satisfy the law, right? Is it just that it can’t be digitally generated?

by mplanchard

4/16/2026 at 4:16:06 PM

Not to mention the uniform tilt (1) isn't necessarily what they have in mind and (2) would likely be incidental on a case-by-case basis rather than having the exact same tilt applying to everything and (3) presumably there are lots of other incidental variations in presentation that are no more or less plausible than tilted buns (e.g. stray shred of lettuce or overextended drizzle of sauce or like 20 other things). You would think any given image would be a motley combination of those things rather than an exact repetition of one.

by glenstein

4/16/2026 at 4:04:35 PM

Like the sibling said about plastic models, if the generated image does faithfully look like the food then I guess it's fine. Over time anyway customers won't even know it's AI generated or a real photo as all the hallmarks of AI images are rapidly disappearing.

by satvikpendem

4/16/2026 at 9:23:38 AM

> But this feels like, potentially, AI prompting

Are you joking?

by weird-eye-issue

4/16/2026 at 11:25:08 AM

Hackernews sees skewed burger and proceeds to praise itself

by glouwbug

4/16/2026 at 4:02:21 PM

Nope! I think especially in professional hands they can produce convincing images of food. Also notice the caveats? It's a subjective impression about what's potentially the case paired with immediate acknowledgement of an alternative.

Gotta throw this one back in the lake I'm afraid.

by glenstein

4/16/2026 at 10:37:01 AM

It’s clever, it makes the burger more “accessible” - you’re not thinking “how am I going to eat this tower of food”.

by JSR_FDED

4/16/2026 at 3:50:26 PM

Bite selection is akin to bin packing, now that I think about it.

by sudoshred

4/16/2026 at 8:10:11 AM

[dead]

by lolchaow

4/16/2026 at 9:37:14 AM

So many upvotes. And not even any accompanying submission text. I love it.

by barbs

4/17/2026 at 1:59:45 AM

Do you think the CEO will taste the product?

by hi41

4/16/2026 at 6:43:37 PM

its the new reddit and the last safe space for nerds lets hope the mainstream never reaches here

by DuperPower

4/16/2026 at 6:48:43 PM

We are in a thread about hamburger tops...

by plutokras

4/15/2026 at 11:30:26 PM

A video posted by McDonalds Canada reveals how they stage the burgers for photographing them. They shift each layer backwards (bun, meat, etc) so that the ingredients of the layer are more visible when photographed. The top bun ends up being a few inches backward compared to the bottom bun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSd0keSj2W8

by Dwedit

4/16/2026 at 7:22:06 AM

However, the buns on the Japanese menu are much more obviously askew than other countries menus, which is the interesting point I imagine the OP was getting at.

Compare for example with the UK images which are much more symmetrical:

https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/menu/burgers.html

by alt227

4/16/2026 at 2:43:25 PM

Maybe the haphazard/devil may care look feels more authentically American

by smrtinsert

4/18/2026 at 5:28:23 PM

I have just noticed that on the UK menu, there are a few crumbs or sauce drips next to every single burger, which there are not on the wonky Japanese menu.

It seems there are definitely some interedssting nuances between food photography in different countries.

by alt227

4/16/2026 at 1:21:06 PM

I wonder if they got the instructions on how to photograph them in text, without example pictures, and followed them verbatim.

by rererereferred

4/16/2026 at 7:42:14 AM

I used to work in food photography (in an admin role).

Sprayed on glycerine for condensation on cool things. cigarette smoke for steam.

It was super nasty, but the photos looked good.

by lostlogin

4/16/2026 at 11:19:24 AM

When I had a contract with a company that makes machines to mass produce spaghetti and also stuff like pudding I watched a photography session. They used motor oil as chocolate sauce.

by vjvjvjvjghv

4/16/2026 at 7:47:06 AM

I was told once everything in those food photos in the United States had to be edible. You could substitute sour cream, but not glue, for whipped cream. I wonder if that was true.

by Barbing

4/16/2026 at 4:25:27 PM

In the US, photos of food must depict the actual product being advertised. So all the photos of burgers on the McD's menu are what is being sold, albeit with carefully selected "hero" ingredients skillfully assembled for the best presentation.

For a product that is only advertising one thing in a photo, e.g. an ice cream cone with ice cream on a package of just cones, I don't think there are any restrictions on what the "ice cream" can be made of. (It's probably mashed potatoes, though.)

by Clamchop

4/16/2026 at 7:53:21 AM

I remember reading a book in the '80s where one of the characters was a food photographer and mentioned that some kind of plastic had to be used for the cheese in hamburgers or it wouldn't be realistic.

But also many post 2000 claims that it was all actually real food because of various "truth in advertising" regulations around the world.

The linked Canadian McDonald's video would be one example.

by riffraff

4/16/2026 at 9:43:13 AM

Elmers glue is edible.

by roncesvalles

4/16/2026 at 10:21:33 AM

Surely all glue is edible, you just have to commit a bit more to some glues than others.

It's like that saying about mushrooms: "All mushrooms are edible. It's just that some mushrooms you only get to eat once."

by seanhunter

4/16/2026 at 10:43:17 AM

I recently watched a video about death cap mushrooms (the deadliest, supposedly), and apparently about 80% of people still survive (requires prompt medical treatment), not that they would want to repeat the experiment. Apparently, the mushrooms even taste good.

Anyway, edible normally means "safe to eat," not just "possible to eat." (As you are no doubt aware). IIRC, Elmer's glue is considered safe to eat though not necessarily appetising.

by goodcanadian

4/16/2026 at 12:12:00 PM

We had a mass murder in Australia a few years ago involving death cap mushrooms. 3 of the 4 victims died, and the 4th required a liver transplant.

Surprisingly the doctors involved quickly identified mushrooms as the culprit, despite that the 75% died.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leongatha_mushroom_murders

It was a super interesting court case.

by guidedlight

4/16/2026 at 6:49:29 PM

When that incident first happened and was on the news it was so weird.

Did she really expect to get away with that? It seemed so obvious and her attempts to not be culpable were terrible.

Reading that, there's a strong implication she tried to poison her husband once already, and that information was not allowed into this case!

Also, apparently she inherited $2 million?! Actually it's a little weird that she gets a page long "Early life and background" style section. Lots of public people have shorter ones. That's somewhat uncomfortable.

by mrguyorama

4/16/2026 at 11:25:30 AM

I was taught “Edible (fit to be eaten as food) vs Eatable (capable of being chewed up and swallowed)” but modern usage seems to treat them as synonyms (the former just being more pleasant to eat than the latter).

by implements

4/16/2026 at 11:36:20 AM

Hah, old memories unlocked. As a kid I remember using “eatable” to mess with people because it “wasn’t a word”.

Is it edible? Yeah, it is eatable.

Here I am, years later, learning I was right all along.

by doubled112

4/16/2026 at 4:29:18 PM

That's backwards, eatable is the stronger claim that means fit as food while edible just means safe to eat.

by Clamchop

4/16/2026 at 6:52:44 PM

Pedantic difference; most people would reasonably assume either meant "OK to eat".

by IAmBroom

4/16/2026 at 7:55:15 PM

No more pedantic than the comment I was replying to. My advice would be not to use "eatable" at all because others will just think you're saying edible incorrectly.

by Clamchop

4/16/2026 at 10:50:06 AM

Elmer's white glue is "non-toxic" but today, it is made with synthetics. Since my youth in the early 80s, Elmer's has never been particularly appetizing or appealing to put in my mouth.

I believe that the stereotypical "craft food" is actually paste, which is often based on starches like corn or wheat. Children are very likely to put paste in their mouths and try eating it, because it is indeed based on food products.

I've frankly never been in a school that provided a lot of paste, and the switch to Elmer's glue may have been a strategy to stop kids from consuming the food-based stuff. However, I was in a summer science course where we crafted "Oobleck" which is also sort of "edible" if you like eating clay that's been squeezed between the filthy little hands of 8-year-old boys.

by ButlerianJihad

4/16/2026 at 12:15:48 PM

I ate so much paste in elementary school, was probably one of the high points for me.

by PaulHoule

4/16/2026 at 3:38:01 PM

Nice video. Thanks for sharing. I gotta say, ever since I saw that comparison video of the Burger King CEO and McDonald's CEO eating their own burgers, I can't get the question out of my head: WHY DOES NO ONE AT MCDONALD'S EVER EAT THEIR OWN PRODUCT?

by butlike

4/16/2026 at 4:37:14 PM

everybody i know that works at mcdonalds eat there at least once in a while. if you mean the ceo thats just your average top level exec with a private chef and a health nut wife who only eats out when its a place with a month long wait list and no prices on the menu. last time he had "normal people food" was way back when he was just a middle manager. its not because he knows its dangerous or unsanitary, he could always just tell the test kitchen people to make something that looks exactly the same but with organic fresh ingredients. he probably got to the point where even the concept of a burger sounds too low class for him.

by tancop

4/17/2026 at 4:57:35 PM

I read this and chuckle because I'm the type to eat at a Michelin Star restaurant for dinner and then get Taco Bell for lunch the next day.

I don't think I'll ever consider myself above most fast food. I'd take a McLaren to McDonald's.

by Sohcahtoa82

4/17/2026 at 5:24:46 PM

That photo burger paddy looks very different from the restaurant bought one?!

by gbraad

4/15/2026 at 11:12:22 PM

I like how it makes the burgers look more "laid back", like some cool sunglasses-wearing skater/surfer dude leaning back, or a pin-up model whose pose invites you in. Standing up straight is for the man and that's not how I want my burgers to be.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man

by evanjrowley

4/16/2026 at 12:02:12 AM

These burgers aren't working for the man

by fennec-posix

4/16/2026 at 5:04:59 PM

They're working for the mac

by fcubed

4/16/2026 at 12:08:56 PM

Quite. A burger that wears its hat at a jaunty angle for a rakish look.

by adonovan

4/16/2026 at 5:11:46 PM

I was thinking maybe this makes them look more American to a Japanese audience that lives in an orderly society.

by rdiddly

4/16/2026 at 4:41:30 AM

I was thinking more of south park characters, maybe ike:

https://southpark.fandom.com/wiki/Ike_Broflovski

by m463

4/16/2026 at 6:49:19 AM

Don't kick the burger

by smilespray

4/16/2026 at 9:11:47 AM

That would be Canadian McDonalds.

by tokioyoyo

4/15/2026 at 11:34:21 PM

No idea why we're discussing burgers or the man, but pretty funny to learn the phrase goes back to freaking BCE

by robot-wrangler

4/16/2026 at 11:54:56 AM

That's interesting, because I had a different take: The burgers are 'so big' they can't easily be contained.

If you notice, it's mostly the higher priced burgers that seem to be 'askew'

by danesparza

4/15/2026 at 11:01:55 PM

This is such a dastardly psychological trick. Being slightly aswew really hard to fight the subconscious urge to reach out and 'fix' them. I almost want to rush out to a nearest McDonald's right now and buy one of these burgers so that I can make sure that it's buns are aligned properly....

by tpurves

4/16/2026 at 1:39:54 AM

I'd like to reach out and snatch that last apostrophe from your comment for similar reasons.

by xofer

4/16/2026 at 4:48:37 AM

Your being so critical!

by mykowebhn

4/16/2026 at 7:17:15 AM

... and last dot in the ellipsis.

by eps

4/16/2026 at 12:12:27 AM

In a culture that likes things neat and orderly lined up!

by vivid242

4/16/2026 at 10:38:28 AM

Interesting, I couldn't care less about those shapes. Where is the difference in our minds? Because I haven't for single a second thought about "fixing" it, nor cared about it - even after you mentioned it.

by soco

4/16/2026 at 4:27:37 AM

What if I told you that you could do this without flying to Japan. You’ll probably be reprimanded for holding up orders.

by kylehotchkiss

4/16/2026 at 7:55:43 AM

Oh, that is absolutely how all of mobile game ads now are designed. It will deliberately fail a very simple task to poke our desires of "Huh, I can do better than that"

by sbt567

4/16/2026 at 4:42:12 AM

> reach out and 'fix' them

maybe by eating your way into the problem...

by m463

4/17/2026 at 11:08:49 AM

are you a charachorder keyboard user?

by 1kcah

4/15/2026 at 10:58:10 PM

I just want to note how fast this page is.

806kB transferred. 766ms to finished. I hit the DFW AWS CloudFront pop from here.

Similar page for BK https://www.burgerking.co.jp/menu

31MB transferred. 6.5s to finished. Hits the DEN pop (but it's a "miss").

I am in Colorado. uBlock is on.

Even if you don't count the 7.5MB of fonts on the BK page, that's wild.

by tbeseda

4/15/2026 at 11:32:05 PM

McDonalds actually seems to have learned to take latency seriously. When their touch screen ordering systems were first deployed, the delay between tapping on an item or button was quite noticeable. These days the systems respond nearly instantaneously. I'm very glad there are people inside such a large organization that pay attention to that aspect of usability.

Now if only every other website on the internet would learn that latency matters...

by bcrl

4/16/2026 at 12:39:13 AM

If that's true, then their mobile app team must be both completely separate and isolated from all communications.

Because it's really bad. And it's been bad for a really long time.

When all I want is to order a cheap cup of coffee, I get to stare at a throbbing box of fries while it tries to figure that out.

Get to the restaurant and signal my arrival? More throbbing fries.

Sometimes the fries never stop throbbing and the only way to get away from them and onto the next step is to force-close the app and start it again.

When I manage to accumulate enough points to order a free sandwich? "Sorry, something went wrong!" This leaves me with no sandwich, and no points. (I guess I was going to be disappointed no matter what -- maybe they're doing me a favor by fucking it up so bad that getting the food is impossible, since reaching the melancholy destination takes fewer steps this way.)

Over the years I've used multiple phones, from multiple manufacturers, with multiple carriers. It's not me; the app is consistently bad.

Oh. And speaking of carriers: Back when I had metered service, I used wifi where I could. The McDonald's near where I lived had free wifi, but their network had this app firewalled. It'd work anywhere but inside of the building where it was most useful.

But, yeah: The touchscreen kiosks are a bit more responsive than they initially were. It's too bad that they're gored up with finger grease and other bodily effluences, though, because they barely work with the layer of filth that covers them.

by ssl-3

4/16/2026 at 4:02:46 AM

I have a half-serious theory that their mobile app is for price discrimination. The best deals are only available in the app, but the experience is so bad that you'll only use it if you really need to.

by aidenn0

4/16/2026 at 4:16:05 AM

Here in Japan they started to forward me to the app page when ordering. So you are forced to use the app with a mobile browser. Even though the website could do it perfectly fine in the past.

I do not go often, but if I do I prefer to sit, order in the page and they bring it to your seat. I dont like the Kiosk.

by canpan

4/16/2026 at 5:27:50 AM

Anyone is free to use the app to get the best deals. They just need to be willing to put up with its behavior.

That sounds, to me, less like something discriminatory and more like something that is simply sadistic.

by ssl-3

4/16/2026 at 6:42:12 AM

Price discrimination is basically corporate speak for giving discounts to those who wouldn’t or couldn’t afford to pay full price.

And it makes perfect sense in this context - if you make $200k salary you probably don’t care enough about a $0.30 discount to fiddle with an app for 5 minutes. But if you’re living on a few dollars of food budget, you probably care a lot about that 30 cents and would fight for it. So making the app bad allows them to segment the market to get an extra 30 cents out of the person who can afford it without excluding the low-budget person.

by californical

4/16/2026 at 7:45:29 AM

The wealthiest person who I know well would absolutely fiddle with an app for 5 minutes to save 30 cents on a sandwich at McDonald's. He's cheap AF.

But even if he weren't that way, making the app deliberately bad to eek a few more clams out of a subset of people is perverse. Deliberately erecting barriers between the products and those who want to buy them is not how business is successfully done at this level. They aren't selling Ferraris here.

"I want to stick it to these rich guys, so I'll make the app terrible!" doesn't make sense. They're neither smart enough to do that, nor dumb enough.

The simplest explanation is that in a world of shitty software, this software is also just shit. :)

by ssl-3

4/16/2026 at 12:09:46 PM

Seems like you just completely ignored the point.

It’s not about sticking it to the rich guys, it’s about charging them an extra 30 cents.

For McDonalds, that 30 cents might be tripling the margin on that item.

by yunwal

4/16/2026 at 5:25:56 PM

I saw your point.

Your point is entirely about sticking it to the rich guys -- for an entire 30 cents. It is based on the presumption that these can't be stuffed to spend time on an app, and you think that this means that the app is deliberately terrible in order to better-succeed at getting those extra 30 cents.

And I understand that 30 cents represents a lot of money in terms of margins.

But I simply reject that line of thinking. It's simply too conspiratorial to be believable, to me.

This is a company that is so incompetent at this point that when they publish video of their CEO eating a new sandwich (sorry, "product"), they can't even get him to act like he's enjoying any part of that.

But it's not about the CEO. For all I know he's an excellent business guy who is working at the top of a company that is dysfunctional in ways that he can't fix (perhaps nobody can fix it), and he just isn't fond of food at all and was more a bigger fan of math classes in school than the arts.

This company can't get the feels of feels-oriented marketing to hit even close to the mark, but they're masters of making an app deliberately terrible to empower subtle, hidden price discrimination to eek a few more pennies out of people?

And that's a good idea -- somehow -- even though it costs them money (someone has to get paid to stand there and take their order) when people don't use the app? Even though when the app is terrible, it costs them money when people do use it because it's just terrible and affects all customers' overall perception? Am I to believe that people of all income levels aren't driven away when an app is awful?

It's not like McDonald's has a monopoly on fast food. It's a competitive market. People have other options.

My buy-in on the idea of price-discrimination-via-terrible-app [because that's a profit center, somehow] is very close to zero.

by ssl-3

4/16/2026 at 1:30:57 PM

Jokes on them. I'm so sick of apps I just don't eat there anymore. Win win for my gut and wallet!

by slumberlust

4/16/2026 at 2:14:35 PM

This. Leaning into touch screens and apps were the last straw for me.

by voakbasda

4/16/2026 at 1:09:59 AM

their app has some very strange flow to it, i cant tell if it feels designed by committee or if there are just so many strange use cases that its somehow the least bad given some arbitrary constraints i cant begin to understand.

even selecting my restaurant is a constant battle. the closest restaurant to my house as the bird flies is not the closest restaurant. even the closest by miles driven involves much more complication than the one i always want to pick. it constantly battles me that i have selected a suboptimal choice. maybe learn that when i am at home, i want to default to my preferred choice, every time, unless i say otherwise.

by basch

4/16/2026 at 1:47:38 AM

I'm only 50/50 but I swear they have only one app for the entire globe.

Can you imagine how complex that must be vs just making like 100 different apps in each country.

But eCoNoMiEs oF sCaLe

If you're balking at makin 100 different apps, then for reference, I am pretty sure my local mcdonalds - just the one restaurant turns over >10 mill a year, so you get a sense of how much they'd want to invest in, idk, the ordering front-end of every maccas in Australia

by plaguuuuuu

4/16/2026 at 3:34:34 AM

At least in Japan on iOS, they have their own app, and it’s great.

You can find a seat first, then order directly from your seat, for delivery to your seat (helpful since some McDonald’s in Japan are really busy, and are very vertical, so you might need to climb up some two/three floors to find a seat!).

You can even order McDelivery and they’ll deliver McDonald’s to your house on McDonald’s branded mopeds.

It’s also been pretty fast, even on a slow internet connection.

The only two problems I’ve had with it are:

- Although the menu and the rest of the app is translated to English, sometimes coupons are only in Japanese, and not translated to English (I’m guessing these might be store-specific) (although it’s easy enough to translate that using your phone’s translator) - I’ve had Apple Pay occasionally be down and fail to work, which forced me to redo my whole order, then realize that Apple Pay is still down, then do my entire order again with a different payment method. Although it’s only happened twice a few months ago, so it could be something that they’ve already fixed (or I’m quite unlucky).

Edit: Forgot to add, but no issues like what basch seems to experience with their country’s McDonald’s app. The Japanese one always gives me a sorted list/map view of my closest McDonald’s to pick from, with any favourites marked at the too.

by aloisklink

4/16/2026 at 7:03:48 AM

That's how it was in the US, too. Sit down anywhere, fire up the app[1], order whatever, enter the table number and they bring it over. That part of the service was consistent and worked well.

The consistency all changed with the covid shuffle.

Now, it depends on the location and their mood at the time. Sometimes, they bring the food out on a tray. Sometimes, they just dismissively put it on the counter at the front in a paper bag and walk away from it without a word. Sometimes they fill the drink for you; sometimes there's a rack of cups and an implied expectation that you just figure it out yourself; sometimes they bring over an empty cup; sometimes you have to beg them for that empty cup. It sucks.

Same with the kiosk. They have these neat table tents with numbers; they're actually BLE beacons that work with tracking hardware inside the ceiling. They help the employees to get a good idea of where you're sitting before they even leave the kitchen. But sometimes there are no table tents to be had (even in an empty restaurant), and sometimes when they do exist nobody gives a damn about them.

As systems, these things work fine. I've seen them work. But I've observed the implementation of them in recent years to have been an unmitigated mess, and this mess is clearly the result of a geographically-diverse problem with bad local-level management.

Buying a cheeseburger and a Coke at McDonald's -- which built an empire around simplicity and efficiency -- should never be an adventure or a guessing game. It should be the most straight-forward process on Earth and completely devoid of surprises.

But it isn't.

[1]: Well, within the app's limitations. I did rant about that in another comment, above.

by ssl-3

4/16/2026 at 4:11:01 AM

I have been in the situation of standing outside an after-hours pick-up only window at a McDonald’s in the UK, able to talk to the staff, but unable to order because they only accepted app orders and I only had access to the Canadian app.

by xgkickt

4/16/2026 at 1:17:21 AM

I tried to log into it just now to see which McDonald's it would select for me at home and whether it would be callous about changes.

But when I touched the icon to open the app, a big M appeared on a bright red screen and then it died and returned to the home screen less than half a second later.

(Good work, fellahs! Good work!)

by ssl-3

4/19/2026 at 6:47:15 AM

do you have the most up to date version?

by basch

4/16/2026 at 7:33:37 AM

I gave up on the app completely when I placed an order via the app, was waved past the payment window, then the order window denied it was placed (and paid for). I showed them the phone with the order number still on it. They said it could be a screenshot. After arguing for a while, I drove away without food.

I eventually got a refund after digging throw their web site for an email address, and emailed them the statement showing where it has been paid. With the back and forward while they asked for evidence, it took over an hour of my time in the end to get the refund. It wasn't the money. It was the principle.

The app is by far the slowest, most unreliable way to place an order with them. Period. The next slowest (although far better) is the kiosks. They also unreliable when the printer doesn't work (which is most of the time), and you make the mistake of forgetting the receipt number. Other fast food outlets have solved this problem by getting you to enter your name. That's beyond McDonalds apparently. The fastest, and most reliable way by far is to talk to a human.

The order should be the reverse. It is beyond me how they get it so badly wrong. Maybe price discrimination is the reason. Nothing else makes much sense for an organisation of the size and resources of McDonalds.

by rstuart4133

4/16/2026 at 9:36:48 AM

I've never once been able to use the McDonald's app over several years and multiple devices. I originally wanted to check the nutritional info of the menu. Download our app, it says. This website is better in our app, it says. The order screen constantly asks me to enter my app code. Collect points in our App! Do you have our App? I give in and finally download the App. "Something's not quite right", you didn't install our app properly (Aurora Store instead of Google Play), you didn't set up your device properly (unlocked bootloader), you did something wrong to upset the App and it will not run. Oh no, we can't let you see the number of calories in your burger with an unlocked bootloader!!! This stupid app has stricter protection than any of my banking apps and I will never be able to escape constantly being asked to use it

by a2128

4/16/2026 at 2:19:19 PM

You will stop being asked when you give up McDonalds. There is no other way out.

by voakbasda

4/16/2026 at 3:09:02 PM

Why not use the website?

by retired

4/16/2026 at 5:20:09 AM

The US app is still laggy (even on the iPhone 17 Pro) and constantly logs you out. My theory is that they set the login timeout to a low number to make it harder to accrue points.

by jd3

4/16/2026 at 12:00:55 PM

Their app also blocks the use of it on GrapheneOS, for no proper reason.

by Itoldmyselfso

4/17/2026 at 2:16:42 AM

For a while, you could call the mobile api to submit an order with a price of your choosing. No validation.

by notamario

4/16/2026 at 12:42:10 AM

I remember the exact opposite of the McDonalds touch screen ordering systems.

When they first came out, everything was snappy because it wasn't loading recommendations or additional tracking. There were a lot fewer customization options.

Now, you click on something, and you wait a while, and then it asks you what you want to change and if you want to add these other suggested items. When you want to check out, it lags and then pops up another dialog asking if you want to add more items to your order.

by jerlam

4/16/2026 at 12:14:44 AM

McDonald’s in the U.S. is targeting market segments that either have low-price cellular data plans or are operating cellular devices in cars where coverage is often worse (especially for travelers!), which requires minimum server latency since you have to turn around those data packets instantly in order to queue them into their customer’s lowest-priority on-the-pole cellular pipe. Thus why they continue to provide a series choices that have such a high round-trip cost of user interaction: everyone wants to customize, no one wants to suffer a complicated UI, so simple serial dialogs served at minimum server resources per request it is. I would hazard a guess that the process fervor they design into their kitchen operations means that internet ordering is shown within the same metrics dashboard as store ops.

by altairprime

4/16/2026 at 12:22:23 AM

I refuse to go to McDonalds anymore because they refuse to acknowledge you, won’t take your order, force you to use those stupid terminals.

by jtbayly

4/16/2026 at 12:26:08 AM

I actively seek out such establishments because I'm an introvert and I don't want to talk to people. Japan is a paradise in this way... an extremely large number of restaurants do not require interacting with a human to place your order.

by ranger_danger

4/16/2026 at 2:08:03 AM

I'm the same, although I understand OP's sentiment to a degree. I also like no interaction with someone who is potentially or visibly sick and contagious. That is why I never stand in the service line at the grocery store. It's always self serve only.

by fracus

4/16/2026 at 2:10:39 AM

As a customer of McDonalds in both countries: the counter is much better in Japan, especially now.

I was always proud of the American stores having lots of nice napkins, sauces, etc for self-service but we lost that years ago.

by axus

4/16/2026 at 12:46:27 AM

Why do you want them to take your order if you have access to a terminal?

by jml7c5

4/16/2026 at 3:14:39 AM

Because it's 10x faster. In can say "big mac meal" and be done while the kiosk ordering machine is still loading the first screen.

by SoftTalker

4/16/2026 at 5:34:23 AM

It’s pure efficiency. I always customize my orders and it’s too many taps on a usually laggy system. I’m also usually ordering for 3, all customized. I can tell a cashier the entire order in less than 20s. And somehow their UI allows them to enter it just as quickly. It’s not a muscle memory thing either, it’s literally the interface and hardware they use runs fast and is perhaps designed with efficiency. The kiosk app is designed for dummies and takes forever to use. I’ve tried it at several places and it’s always my take away. When I use it I literally watch 5+ people place human cashier orders before I can place my order.

I’m not against talking to people for transactions. I’m against being forced to use inefficient machines.

by conductr

4/16/2026 at 5:29:03 PM

One rule I had with my kids at McDonalds: you take it like they make it. No customizations; they will just fuck it up anyway. If you don't like pickles take them off yourself.

by SoftTalker

4/16/2026 at 7:19:09 PM

But those tiny diced up onions (·•᷄‎ࡇ•᷅ )

by conductr

4/16/2026 at 7:51:18 AM

The cash register doesn't try quite as hard to upsell you as the kiosk.

But yes, the cash register should be able to support the data entry skills of teenagers growing up with TikTok.

by Barbing

4/16/2026 at 3:49:45 PM

I’d rather the kiosk give the same speed data entry shortcuts/ui. Or honestly, speech to text should be used here.

by conductr

4/16/2026 at 7:03:38 PM

It’s coming. They’ll let Taco Bell work out the kinks. No need to be first mover there when the food’s staying the same and I doubt anyone will undercut them in the meantime.

by Barbing

4/16/2026 at 7:13:01 PM

Idk, they've all been wanting these kiosks to take off for a long while - maybe ~10 years - and it's just a UX problem keeping most people away from them. Given the labor savings at stake and the simple availability of speech prompted data entry, I'd think they'd take it more seriously.

A dumb easy solution is to just create a call center of sorts and allow the same voice interaction human-to-human while the other person enters in your commands quickly and you just pay the kiosk at the end. They could have done this with very little investment in technology. Could improve the drive-thru experience too (my experience is they can't hear anything you say, I'll have to repeat myself 3x minimum, and chances are I won't be able to understand them if they ask me anything either).

When I visit Shake Shack, it's the one place I see that the kiosk is mandatory. But, at least they are iPads and decently designed. It's still very tap heavy and slow to enter simple customizations. The main thing they did right was put 6 of them out, so it's rare you have to wait for one because if you do have to, it's probably a long wait. It's also when one of them will step up to the register and start to help alleviate the line. The worst thing they did, was prompt for a tip at the self-service kiosk before you've seen your food or even found out if anyone is actually working back in the kitchen.

by conductr

4/17/2026 at 8:24:59 AM

Yes, right. Well McD sure is serious, up to possibly letting customers walk out of restaurants rather than serve them at the registers. They really want a conveyer belt to deliver the food, no human interaction at all if you insist on visiting some of their expensive real estate.

2022's conveyer belt, hadn't seen: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mcdonalds-automated-restaurant-...

No sooner did I hit post than I had to run. But on my way, I thought with what I wanted to edit my post, which was to clarify the current testing Taco Bell is doing in the drive through. But I assume wherever you do it, once it gets good enough, maybe you can move it into the restaurant. Like you say, labor savings, so they'd have to move it into the restaurant the moment they could get away with it.

by Barbing

4/16/2026 at 3:56:57 AM

I prefer the machine because the order is correct 100% of the time. When I used to have someone take the order, I had to double check the receipt to make sure the order was correct.

by lotsofpulp

4/16/2026 at 9:49:09 AM

Just wait until you have to make a complicated order in a country where people don't speak English very well, you will be very thankful for the kiosks. Even the US has two languages.

by zarzavat

4/16/2026 at 1:32:36 PM

Yeah, the app and kiosks are slow and buggy, but I've never had a custom order prepared wrong with the kiosk or app. And as slow as it is, it's still almost always faster than ordering in person because your order is usually ready when you arrive and you never have to wait in line at the register or drive thru (assuming you choose to pick up at the counter, which you should if the dining room is open and you don't want to wait).

Also, when the app or kiosk bugs out and fails to correctly process an offer, or lose an order, McDonald's cashiers and managers are in my experience typically trained to set things right. Not only will cashiers honor "app only" deals at the register when something goes wrong, managers will occasionally comp the entire order.

by jasomill

4/16/2026 at 4:32:48 AM

In the one sentence he wrote, he clearly told you.

by 7bit

4/17/2026 at 1:39:24 AM

No, unless the terminals being "stupid" is the issue.

by jml7c5

4/16/2026 at 4:30:02 AM

I stopped using those because I'm faster ordering at the cashier. The delay was awfully long with 3-5 seconds. It's now improved but 2-3 seconds is still ridiculous. I wouldn't say they've learning anything. That's probably just a side effect of something they aren't even aware about.

Germany btw

by 7bit

4/15/2026 at 11:37:14 PM

Except they make you tap 2-3 times more than it takes to make your selections. That's business guys though, not the devs.

Do you want to add one of [x]?... No. How about now, add one of [x]?... No. Do you want to round up your total to [n]?... No. Do you want to eat in, even though we'll still put it in a takeaway bag so this option is really just the equivalent of a close door button on an elevator in that it does nothing except placate you?... Yes.

by rapind

4/16/2026 at 12:03:26 AM

I'm sure these two behaviors depend on each other. Instantaneous response allows the company to spend more of your attention answering questions rather than staring at a spinner.

If you've ever watched TV with someone who gets distracted and sets down the remote after each button press while Netflix's UI slowly loads, you know that three or four UI interactions can turn into a several-minute ordeal.

by sowbug

4/16/2026 at 12:09:38 AM

I have been in elevators in which it does do something. I've timed the difference. This foul rumour must die.

by b112

4/16/2026 at 1:06:00 AM

They effectively don’t do anything in most elevators in the US during normal operation. The ADA requires elevator doors remain open at least 3-seconds. Usually, people-moving elevators are most efficient when doors close as quickly as possible, so they start closing exactly at 3 seconds. I’ve used elevators with less common use cases — huge ones in hospitals, freight elevators, hotel service elevators — that might be configured to stay open longer than the 3 second minimum, assuming people will push the door close button as soon as they’re ready.

by DrewADesign

4/16/2026 at 11:16:44 AM

Nothing you've said indicates why the button does nothing.

I can enter an elevator is under a second and push the button. This is doubly faster when not waiting for the doors to open fully, effectively making my button push at 0 seconds from door full open.

If you're saying "3 seconds is not long to wait, so it's the same as the button doing nothing", this is false, untrue, and I often use it.

Alternatively, requiring elevator door to wait 3 seconds as a default does not negate someone overriding that.

I've manipulated the button and seen timing differences. It does work. It does make a difference.

Did you mean something else?

by b112

4/16/2026 at 2:16:13 PM

> Nothing you've said indicates why the button does nothing.

Let me expound a bit —

The close-door button cannot override the ADA minimum 3-second open time… the door must remain open for at least 3 seconds no matter what you press. But, most are configured to automatically close at 3 seconds. So as soon as the door-close function is no longer overridden, the door starts closing anyway, so pressing the button has no effect. With the door-open button and door sensor, they generally start closing immediately when they’re not active, so since the doors are already closing, the door-close button has no effect. If the door-open button is configured to open the door more than momentarily, the door close button should function.

If the elevator is designed to stay open longer than the 3-second period during which the door-close button is overridden, it will be available after the first 3 seconds. So if it’s configured to stay open for 10 seconds, the door-close button will be inactive for 3 seconds, but will start a door close, when pressed, from the 4th through the 10th second. At 10 seconds, the door will be closing anyway.

If a regular people-moving elevator is configured to be capable of closing the door in less than 3 seconds, it’s out-of-code. Since professional elevator companies maintain and configure most (all?) up-to-code elevators, and they’re probably liable for them to some extent, I doubt that’s common. It’s not like I’ve studied it or anything though.

I’m pretty sure that timing it out with a stopwatch would reveal that no matter what is happening, the door stays open for a minimum of 3 seconds. Anything beyond 3 seconds depends on how it’s configured, but most are configured to close as soon as they legally can.

by DrewADesign

4/16/2026 at 8:48:20 PM

Well it's a good explanation, and I've just looked at the ADA requirements citing what you're specifying, but perhaps it's a case of older construction and time.

The 1991 requirements don't seem to mention this, and it wasn't until 2012? that the new rules came into effect it seems. And that's only for new construction or alterations. How many elevators are legacy? And it's not like I use elevators daily, I think the last time I used one was 2 years ago.

But an interesting dive into it. Thanks for responding cogently.

by b112

4/16/2026 at 2:05:15 AM

It's choice exhaustion, a common dark pattern. You get worn down and that makes you more likely to spend more than you need

by 1attice

4/16/2026 at 3:48:59 AM

Yeah, but there's a risk that people won't come back because it's exhausting.

I ordered from the wrong location once, and it's fine, they don't work the order until you arrive, and they refund it at the end of the day, but they lost a sale because I was so frustrated that I just drove home without picking up food like I was expecting to.

And the way prices are now, you need to order in the app if you want a chance at value, so if I don't have time to poke at the app, I won't go.

by toast0

4/16/2026 at 2:03:04 PM

Interesting.

As far as I can tell, they're at least supposed to use location services to start the order when you're nearby. When the store isn't super busy my order is typically ready when I arrive, and I've ordered 10-15 minutes before arrival a few times and my orders weren't cold.

Maybe this is what they're supposed to do, but the system and/or employees don't do it reliably.

Or perhaps it's because I typically do counter pick-up, and almost always have a small (1-3 item) order.

It makes sense that they wouldn't prep your order if you're just going to be waiting in a long drive thru line anyway, though this could obviously lead to further delays because they don't reliably have larger orders finished in the time it takes to get from the speaker to the pick up window.

by jasomill

4/16/2026 at 4:24:14 AM

Wait, seriously? They make you show up before they start and the orders can't travel between locations?

I've only used the app a couple times so I only knew the first half of that.

by Dylan16807

4/16/2026 at 4:44:48 AM

I mean... I could have asked, and they might have been able to transfer, but there's no user accessible way to make it happen, and you can't (or couldn't) make a new order while one was pending. But I was coming back from kid's hockey practice and tired and now mad at mcdonalds, so I wasn't going to wait in line to ask. I have ordered to the wrong Starbucks, where they do start your order when you place it, and they were able to see the order and remake it at the one I actually showed up at, but Starbucks is always super nice whenever anything goes wrong, even if when it's my fault, which it usually is.

Not being able to start a new order is also great when you had a successful order that the app didn't notice and then you have to clear app data days later when you want to order again... but I think McDonalds may have added a button to just order anyway in the past not too long.

by toast0

4/16/2026 at 12:16:08 AM

Annoying, for sure, but at least it’s not an unpredictable 800 keystroke, zero agency, chatbot interaction.

by DrewADesign

4/16/2026 at 12:32:33 AM

My experience with them to this day is still abysmal... often have to touch 2 or 3 times to get it to register and there is still a noticeable delay, as if I'm (probably so) interacting with a slow/bloated webpage. The mobile app is even worse for me with added latency and surprising(ly delayed) large content changes that affect what you're trying to click on.

by ranger_danger

4/16/2026 at 12:57:22 AM

Here in Singapore the terminals work well! The latency has definitely gone down. Ironically the Japanese McDonald's website loads faster than the Singapore one... so they've got some work to do.

by qsi

4/16/2026 at 2:17:45 AM

They probably never wash them so there is this insulating layer of grease and grime on the screen that inhibits touch detection.

by fracus

4/16/2026 at 2:16:26 PM

Have you used their app though? It shows an offer on opening, that must animate in and out in such a janky way, when really you just want your PIN code to gain points for the order. It's a horribly frustrating UX.

by kelzier

4/16/2026 at 6:28:47 AM

I'm not sure - their kiosks in Poland are horrible, nagging you to order more. Event hardware is broken, as your recipe with order number tends to get stuck in the machine. What makes me wonder what our Fiscus thinks about it.

by postepowanieadm

4/16/2026 at 6:29:35 AM

I repaired some of ~10 years ago (Australia)

Just low end uncustomised NUCs overheating behind the screen

No idea if that’s still the case

by lmpdev

4/16/2026 at 3:15:09 AM

Yet the Maccas app in Australia is atrocious for me. Takes >30secs to load the huge ad that pops-up before you can get to the menu. Close the ad and the menu takes another eternity, then inside each sub menu, you wait another eternity for the pictures to all load. Meanwhile, all of this content could just be downloaded in the background and cached for future loads...

And the app continues to get worse each update. The checkout process used to be quick and responsive. They've since made it require additional clicks and take much longer.

by jimmydorry

4/16/2026 at 7:54:38 AM

Is there anyone who uses the app and orders premium options and uses coupons that don't represent much of a discount... yet, the app STILL takes a long time to load?

Causing delays for unprofitable customers. Any business is going to do it if they can. /tinfoil

(Their margins shouldn't be this bad.)

by Barbing

4/16/2026 at 9:30:00 AM

I don't want to touch their greasy in-store touch screens that thousands of other people touch. And those "deals" are way cheaper per user than large marketing campaigns, and probably more effective too.

I wonder how slow you can make an app before a significant number of people will just order elsewhere? Give it a few more years of downgrades to the app, and I'll have reached it.

by jimmydorry

4/16/2026 at 2:49:13 PM

They more effective because they can sell our Big Mac consumption to our health insurance company? That is purely an assumption, by the way. Maybe someone tried to write a law once to prevent that.

That's funny about it being bad enough, it just makes you want to leave.

And to anyone reading- be careful with the McDonald's spyware, by the way. You might have it for lunch. Then by dinner time, see a little icon on your phone and realize they've been tracking your precise location all day.

by Barbing

4/15/2026 at 11:45:15 PM

Bet someone here worked on them

by brcmthrowaway

4/16/2026 at 12:10:33 AM

Probably. Similarly, Walmart has a great eng org for a company of its size.

by janderson215

4/16/2026 at 4:10:15 AM

As someone who works there, as a Data Scientist, I can't scroll past this without expressing my disagreement. I've never seen a worse eng org. Coming from Uber, it was and is shocking how dysfunctional Walmart tech is. Maybe my standards are too high.

by kj4211cash

4/19/2026 at 9:56:55 PM

Perhaps your opinion is a bit more up-to-date than mine and perhaps you are more critical :-)

But an important part that I wish I *bolded* at this point, is *for a company its size*.

by janderson215

4/16/2026 at 12:20:32 AM

When I temporarily lost access to my phone, I contacted Walmart dot Com Support. They solemnly informed me that they had no means of overriding MFA for my account or helping me to recover it without the phone.

Support told me that I was better off abandoning the account and creating a new one.

While I did recover my phone, I decided that it was best to simply stop doing business with Walmart, and I haven’t missed them one bit!

by ButlerianJihad

4/16/2026 at 2:40:44 AM

Didn’t they start that from acquiring jet.com?

by vips7L

4/16/2026 at 3:33:56 AM

IIRC, they revamped Walmart.com around the time of the Jet.com acquisition, so that probably had something to do with it.

by janderson215

4/18/2026 at 12:45:56 AM

Cool! I had a friend working there at the time. First time I heard about F#

by vips7L

4/16/2026 at 12:15:16 AM

Really? Walmart does some spectacularly stupid, costly, and obnoxiously customer hostile stuff.

by dd8601fn

4/16/2026 at 12:20:59 AM

But they do it with much uptime, and very low latency!

by geerlingguy

4/16/2026 at 3:31:28 AM

I know this is tongue-in-cheek, but yes, all I was saying is their eng org. I'm not speaking on their Customer Service or business practices.

by janderson215

4/15/2026 at 11:21:53 PM

It’s worrying, or perhaps just sad, that 766ms for an initial page load is considered especially noteworthy. Six thousand milliseconds is just awful.

by mr_toad

4/15/2026 at 11:25:49 PM

But it feels snappy.

by gl-prod

4/16/2026 at 12:05:16 AM

When I was a lad, 30ms was considered the worst latency allowable for telephony unless you were dealing with satellite links, in which case you taught people to use a simple variety of radio protocol (over).

Nowadays with all our fancy crappy comms, 200+ms is considered normal. Ever noticed the lag on a Teams call?

by gerdesj

4/16/2026 at 12:16:02 AM

OP is not talking ping but page load time. Depending on when you were a lad pages could take up to 30-60 second to load on a modem.

by rasz

4/15/2026 at 11:56:58 PM

It feels snappy _compared with most sites_.

That's the point!

It feels _very_ sluggish if I try it after spending some time using a windows 98 VM, or a library catalog from 1990.

by danielheath

4/16/2026 at 4:12:26 AM

Not if you were browsing the internet of that time using a 28k8 modem.

by jauco

4/16/2026 at 4:12:11 AM

BK's page is also completely unusable without JS. It's an "appsite", not a website.

McD's is readable with JS off, because the "meat" of the content is plain HTML. I also like how the other links here are to URLs of the form "/en/products/nnnn", which further reinforces the fact that the pages are server-side.

by userbinator

4/16/2026 at 12:24:12 AM

It's fast food, what do you expect. ;)

by layer8

4/16/2026 at 10:59:25 AM

I would imagine it is intended so it loads quickly on mobile devices using slow data connections in crowded areas. I have noticed web pages taking a lot longer to load when I am in a city centre on a data connection. Its pretty cool and may even give a competitive edge if you can still be snappy in that situation when your competitiors arent.

by alt227

4/15/2026 at 11:18:08 PM

they gotta make sure you learn about those burgers as fast as possible.

by wombat-man

4/16/2026 at 12:25:52 AM

Crazy fast but the the way all header text sizes change briefly flash between values every time you switch tabs would drive me nuts if I was responsible for this.

by sickcodebruh

4/16/2026 at 12:57:50 AM

+1. not just that front page, click on any of the menu. Good prefetch and ttfb optimization there

by puppymaster

4/17/2026 at 12:34:22 PM

additionally, BK shows this terrible modal banner to "use our app instead". gross.

by lucaspottersky

4/16/2026 at 1:07:12 AM

Hungry people are impatient. Some have learned this and how to gain another small edge with it.

by IAmGraydon

4/15/2026 at 10:06:15 PM

I believe it has to do with

https://boingboing.net/2026/04/08/japans-truth-in-packaging-...

by jdorfman

4/15/2026 at 10:45:54 PM

I don't think so. Mos Burder and Burger King's websites don't look like that.

https://www.mos.jp/menu/category/?c_id=1

https://www.burgerking.co.jp/menu

by raincole

4/16/2026 at 5:11:37 AM

Mos takes it even further, the top bun is completely off.

by jamesrom

4/16/2026 at 11:51:34 AM

I would love to believe that a regulator got served a crooked McDonald's burger, looked at the pristine menu photos, and said 'nope.'

I'm half joking but this feels plausible.

by qnleigh

4/15/2026 at 10:25:13 PM

It isn't showing anything that would otherwise be hidden, I think this is a stylistic decision. Looks cute and more natural to me.

by jmcgough

4/15/2026 at 10:09:37 PM

https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/2303/e...

>No Entrepreneur may make a ... representation where the quality, standard or any other particular relating to the

>content of goods or services is portrayed to general consumers as being much better than that of the actual goods or services

by ZeWaka

4/15/2026 at 10:30:44 PM

To me the buns still look far too perfect and fluffy. I don't know if I've ever received a wrapped McDonald's hamburger that hasn't been smashed flat to some extent, with cracks in the bun. The ones that come in boxes fare a little better but they still look as if they've weathered some turbulence.

by Fwirt

4/15/2026 at 10:52:47 PM

I'll admit to McDonald's Japan being a guilty pleasure of mine. Most things I get are pretty close to the picture. It's not perfect of course, but it's McDonald's, I'm not exactly expecting gourmet food and presentation. The fries kick ass though, I almost always get them hot and perfectly golden brown.

by bschwindHN

4/16/2026 at 5:48:44 AM

The quality of the fries is directly proportional to how good the attendant at the fries station is at following procedure and not dumping loads of pre baked fries in the keep-warm bin (don't know the English McD's phrase for it). They get worse from being under the heating lamp for too long or being left over the frying pan too long dripping. It's not rocket science but many don't want to be shouted at when the station runs out of fries so they overdo it on the supply. This is exaggerated when a rush is winding down and the production isn't scaled down quickly enough.

If I remember correctly there is a small trouble shooting section in the floor managers quality guide (small booklet with all procedures, weights, temperatures, stack height of boxes etc) which hints you at what is going wrong if you ever want to know and get your hands on one. Though that will have changed since mine is ancient.

by consp

4/16/2026 at 8:01:14 AM

I figured as much, and I would expect a Japanese mcdonalds employee to give slightly more of a shit than say, an American employee so that probably explains the discrepancy in the average experience if you were to compare them.

That reminds me of when I worked at a movie theater. We used to serve the popcorn scooped directly from the popping machine into a bucket. But then they had a corporate guy come in and install warmers so we could pre-load a bunch of buckets/bags of popcorn and hand them out when ordered. Of course the ones from the warmers aren't as good as the ones freshly popped, and this guy gave some bullshit about "ackshually popcorn right out of the popper isn't as good, it needs time to dry". It's not like the customer is about to take their popcorn into a multi-hour sitting activity where they have time to "let it dry"...

I always tried to hook up the nice customers with the fresh stuff when I could, it felt criminal handing them one out of the warmer.

by bschwindHN

4/15/2026 at 10:35:06 PM

At least, in Japan, they're generally as advertised.

by qmarchi

4/15/2026 at 10:20:05 PM

Honestly, this looks far more like a stylistic choice that the company thought was fine? And... it is? It actually gave me a bit of a smile. :D

by taeric

4/15/2026 at 11:26:27 PM

Isn't that more about size? Instagram video seems to corroborate that.

by junon

4/16/2026 at 6:51:33 AM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi

by rdevilla

4/16/2026 at 7:40:37 AM

That would be the charitable reason, but I wonder if it could be more related to their laws on accurate representations in ads (Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations [0]).

[0] https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/2303/e...

by croon

4/16/2026 at 9:06:16 AM

That doesn't seem to bother burger king though: https://www.burgerking.co.jp/menu

by Kailhus

4/16/2026 at 10:58:35 AM

IANAL, so I won't quote relevant text from previous link, but I believe promotional photos need to be of the actual food (ie not substituting shaving cream for whipped cream to deal with melting issue), but it will likely be a very picturesque version of it, though they are indeed (less, but still) askew in those photos. I looked a bit further, and it seem the American BK uses similar (though not exact) photos of their JP counterpart now, maybe it's a trend, but I did find a rather stark contrast with their AU counterpart (naming is another story):

https://www.hungryjacks.com.au/Upload/HJ/Media/Menu/product/...

compared to the Japanese:

https://www.burgerking.co.jp/images/menu/web/main/2025/09/04...

by croon

4/16/2026 at 9:00:51 AM

That was my first thought, too. Never ever looked a burger from any of the well-known chains the way it looks on photos.

by MrGilbert

4/16/2026 at 7:28:49 PM

That's like claiming ketchup is red because of Americans' affinity for the colors of the flag. It has a slight whiff of facts, but is completely ignorant of the basic concept behind wabi-sabi/tomato ketchup.

by IAmBroom

4/16/2026 at 6:59:08 AM

Please don’t compare a beautiful practice with the symbol of ultra-capitalism.

Probably it’s some sociopathic psychologist working for McDonalds that find out that askew buns makes them sell 0.2% more units per year, which is around half a gazillion dollars in increased revenue.

by sph

4/16/2026 at 7:16:48 AM

Maybe 500 years into the future burger bun photography will be treated as a "beautiful practice" while nutrient syringes are getting shoved into our other buns.

by rrr_oh_man

4/16/2026 at 7:33:25 AM

Why can't it be both?

by saagarjha

4/16/2026 at 9:29:38 AM

Because it's not. From another comment: "Being slightly aswew really hard to fight the subconscious urge to reach out and 'fix' them. I almost want to rush out to a nearest McDonald's right now and buy one of these burgers"

Urge to fix something, or tricking one to spend money for a novelty is quite literally the opposite of wabi-sabi.

by sph

4/15/2026 at 10:10:37 PM

Some of them, it seems like it could be to show the sauce more clearly:

https://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/en/products/4530/

But others, it's just inexplicable:

https://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/en/products/1010/

Burger King isn't doing this though (close the two popups to see the menu):

https://www.burgerking.co.jp/menu

Is it some kind of trendy style? It does feel kinda... cute.

by crazygringo

4/15/2026 at 10:23:24 PM

Yes, my guess is that this is the result of a few food stylists or a single agency holding an opinion. It's not at all unusual as far as styling food goes, but maybe so for fast food.

by goosejuice

4/15/2026 at 10:36:49 PM

I know that burgers are usually stacked to tilt away from the camera in photography to show the contents. (ie the bottom bun is laterally closer to the camera than the top in a downward view) I don't know why you would stack them to the side because it's more obvious, and in this case you can hardly see anything different at such a shallow angle. It's almost like they stacked them and then took the picture from a randomly selected angle or something.

by recursivecaveat

4/15/2026 at 10:30:49 PM

BK is doing it in the very first one.

by wahnfrieden

4/15/2026 at 10:20:04 PM

Honestly, it’s adorable and I love it.

by peddling-brink

4/15/2026 at 10:29:15 PM

It's to get people on social media posting about it so more people go look at it out of curiosity. Result is lots of people looking at the McD's menu.

by wahnfrieden

4/17/2026 at 4:19:09 PM

Well, they've done it in a way that doesn't irritate me, so kudos to their marketing team.

by peddling-brink

4/16/2026 at 12:07:23 AM

Greek and Roman columns would have a slight curve because it was more pleasing to the human eye: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entasis

> Its best-known use is in certain orders of Classical columns that diminish in a very gentle curve, rather than in a straight line as they narrow going upward. The human eye would allegedly perceive that the middle of the column was diminishing in a concave curve halfway up the column, and entasis corrects this.

by nomilk

4/15/2026 at 10:10:02 PM

It's just burger wabi sabi.

by squidsoup

4/15/2026 at 10:56:00 PM

You guys learn one term...

by platinumrad

4/16/2026 at 12:03:53 AM

Yeah just say horse radish geeze

by zeroCalories

4/16/2026 at 1:54:07 AM

You're missing a syllable

by msephton

4/16/2026 at 2:48:06 AM

I was going to say feng shui, but the handful of times I've seen it brought up in the context of food plating the whole point was harmony and balance . . .

Having food askew is probably messing with the eater's qi.

by tenpies

4/15/2026 at 10:53:34 PM

This seems the most likely explanation to me.

It's just much more visually interesting than a page full of perfect burgers. Each one looks like a unique thing from the real world; they don't "look AI", as the kids say these days.

by glhaynes

4/15/2026 at 11:07:39 PM

Burger chizutsugi needs to be a thing.

by observationist

4/15/2026 at 11:39:13 PM

Like go pieces being deliberately too large for the board they are used on.

by jmount

4/16/2026 at 6:12:09 AM

Doesn't that make it impossible to place the stones in the correct positions?

by kristianp

4/16/2026 at 6:55:01 AM

Yes, exactly.

by rdevilla

4/16/2026 at 12:15:47 PM

I'm seriously starting to understand Toyotomi Hideyoshi's feelings... (/j)

by Dilettante_

4/16/2026 at 11:53:57 AM

"I like how mine's a bit off-center"

by ramon156

4/15/2026 at 11:14:05 PM

Anyone notice that the plain burger is only 190 Yen ($1.20) vs $3.99 in the US. https://www.mac-menus.com/

by NathanielBaking

4/15/2026 at 11:27:19 PM

> The Big Mac Index is a price index published since 1986 by The Economist as an informal way of measuring the purchasing power parity (PPP) between two currencies and providing a test of the extent to which market exchange rates result in goods costing the same in different countries. It "seeks to make exchange-rate theory a bit more digestible."[1] The index compares the relative price worldwide to purchase the Big Mac, the flagship hamburger sold at McDonald's restaurants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index

by nothrabannosir

4/15/2026 at 11:29:57 PM

Food in Japan is incredibly cheap. I never paid more than $6 for noodles, sometimes just $2. In the US it’d be $12-$20 (and worse).

by cammikebrown

4/15/2026 at 11:47:28 PM

In recent years Japan has been cheap due to the weakness of the yen, which has been trending 160/1 USD. Just 10 years ago it was nearly twice as strong. When I visited a couple years ago (2 weeks in Tokyo/Osaka/Kyoto), everything seemed to be surprisingly cheap.

- Yes food, as well as alcohol, was quite cheap. Had very few meals that came out to more than $10, alcohol (about $3-4/drink) included.

- I purchased a couple pairs of running shoes that were about 30% cheaper than they were offered for sale in the US.

- I purchased an umbrella for $45 that sells in the US for $75.

- An all-access pass at their premier amusement park, Fuji-Q Highland, was only about $40 - when entry to comparable parks in the US can easily be twice as much.

- I recall the subway came out to around $1.50 a ride, roughly half what the NYC subway costs and the 1 and 3 day passes made it ridiculously cheap (IIRC something like $5/$10).

- I only used capsule hotels, but those were only $15 to up to $38 for a luxury one, almost all in desirable/touristy areas.

- I also took a look at apartments, and in decent areas in Tokyo you can find small apartments for about $1500 that would cost ~$3500 in Manhattan, or maybe $2000 in medium sized US city centers.

by brandall10

4/15/2026 at 11:33:56 PM

this is incredibly weird to read. once upon a time japan was notorious for its high food prices

by yen223

4/15/2026 at 11:46:08 PM

Is that in comparison to the US? Because US food was cheaper than dirt in the past before all the food processing conglomerates decided to leverage their dominant market position to increase margins.

by AngryData

4/16/2026 at 12:36:39 AM

If you want to pay a lot for food you still can. I imagine this is the case anywhere. If you care to look, you can find an amazing meal on the cheap. If you don't, you may end up paying a few bucks for a single apple.

by dfxm12

4/15/2026 at 11:42:34 PM

This is so strange to me. Hasn't Japan been printing money for like decades? How isn't their inflation completely out of control by now?

by rapind

4/15/2026 at 11:56:41 PM

Your causality is backwards. The relatively loose monetary policy is because inflation (and economic activity) is too slow.

by donavanm

4/16/2026 at 4:05:47 AM

You're right. I ignored that OP was using USD. Brain fart.

by rapind

4/16/2026 at 8:00:27 AM

Printing does not of its own cause inflation. In Japan it seems that efforts to inject money into the economy end up immediately stuck in low interest savings accounts.

by pjc50

4/16/2026 at 4:11:33 AM

Folks are not paid terribly high wages in Japan. I saw McDonalds "we're hiring" signs when I was eating there and I don't recall the wage but it was below 1000¥.

(That being said I tried to calculate the ratio of hourly wage to McChicken sandwich and Japanese workers came out with a better deal than Canadian ones)

by Tiktaalik

4/16/2026 at 7:25:07 AM 

    > ... I tried to calculate the ratio of hourly wage to ...
Are you familiar with the Big Mac index that The Economist (magazine) publishes? It is a cool spin on PPP (purchasing power parity).

by throwaway2037

4/16/2026 at 12:05:55 AM

Big mac is 10 euros where i live. (11,8 dollars). Japan has extremely cheap prices and i feel like i'm ripped off.

by sorbusherra

4/16/2026 at 12:10:16 AM

A little curious about this website, I just pulled up the local menu (Texas) and the same burger is $2.19.

by owlninja

4/15/2026 at 11:25:24 PM

I remember when they were $0.49

by TurdF3rguson

4/16/2026 at 12:22:56 AM

Japanese food prices are ridiculously cheap. Well that's true to pretty much whole Asia too. Even in HK which I consider more expensive than Japan a Big Mac is only 2.9€ (27 HKD). And that's McD, local food spots are even cheaper. If you have the money there is no better time to have a holiday in Asia.

A Big Mac is 10€ in France...

We are ripped off big time in the US and Europe for nothing.

by haunter

4/16/2026 at 7:29:08 AM

My guess about how/why McDonald's is so cheap in Hongkong: (1) Guangdong province is just north which means there are lot of farms with very cheap labor. (2) Minimum wage in Hongkong is frightening low. As a counterpoint, I would offer that retail/commercial real estate is crazy expensive. I have no idea how this translates into my McD's is so damn cheap in HK!

by throwaway2037

4/16/2026 at 12:50:26 PM

France has a 12.02 EUR minimum wage, plus the high employer social contributions.

We (it's a similar story in the UK - 14 EUR minimum wage) are indirectly paying a lot of extra taxes

Not forgetting 20% VAT of course

And our governments doing all they can to ensure property prices stay high and rise even higher (don't listen to what they say, look at the data)

by gib444

4/16/2026 at 4:57:17 PM

how much is that minimum wage reflecting on the actual prices? from a google search the average location in france spends around 30% of its total expenses on wages and social insurance. if the total labor cost was half what it is (6eur minimum wage) that would imply around 15% lower prices, maybe 25 to be super optimistic.

the actual difference is more than 60 percent. hk is not really known for cheap rent and taxes cant fully explain the rest. what im trying to say is the insane prices in europe and usa are a choice.

by tancop

4/16/2026 at 5:28:24 PM

Please use proper spelling and punctuation if you wish to be taken seriously.

Lower-case is neither cute nor a flex.

by gib444

4/16/2026 at 12:34:23 AM

american fast food learned that if they try to hit the business market they can sell higher mark up items. it's why mcdonalds for a long time went to premium chicken and premium burgers that were more expensive. they changed strats, but for a while in the US that's what a lot of fast food was doing. they were chasing whales.

by chrneu

4/15/2026 at 9:59:32 PM

I would imagine this is to make them look less machine-perfect and more "home-made"

by pimlottc

4/15/2026 at 10:01:53 PM

If that marketing works on anyone they need to be examined. McDonald's is the definition of machine repeatability.

Except with pickles. They never get the pickles on the actual burger.

by Loughla

4/15/2026 at 10:05:34 PM

>Except with pickles. They never get the pickles on the actual burger

there should be some sort of named law (in the "law of headlines" sense, not legal sense) about mcdonalds and pickles.

i dont like pickles. i ask for no pickles. i always receive pickles. the people that want them? too bad, they put them on mine instead apparently

by john_strinlai

4/15/2026 at 10:23:43 PM

One of the benefits of the move to app ordering is that I know for certain the order-taker got it right. And I can bookmark the custom order for later reuse.

Now it's just down to the kitchen to fulfill the order correctly, and while it's not 100% it's a lot, lot better.

by jldugger

4/15/2026 at 10:35:07 PM

It's always the kitchen for me across food places (in Australia). Ending up with pickles when I removed them. Ending up with coke zero instead of coke. But the worst is ending up with anything mock meat!

by mabster

4/16/2026 at 1:14:47 AM

McDonalds once forgot to actually put the patty on my burger. No idea how they managed to do that.

by kalleboo

4/16/2026 at 7:26:30 AM

Do you think that kitchen was using a robot to build the burgers?

by throwaway2037

4/15/2026 at 10:31:25 PM

And of course whoever set up the menu on the app to have programmed in the appropriate option in the first place.

by Macha

4/15/2026 at 11:45:16 PM

Once I ordered extra pickles and I got them - in a vertical stack of about 6 pickles.

by kbutler

4/15/2026 at 11:01:57 PM

Imagine ordering online late a night from a hotel room and the MCD missing my required condiment ketchup with the order.

by qwertyuiop_

4/16/2026 at 3:12:23 AM

It also makes them appear larger, there's so much in there the bun can't contain it all.

by boomboomsubban

4/15/2026 at 10:36:40 PM

That's my guess, too. I live in Japan and eat at fast food places from time to time. One feature of McDonald's is that the food preparation area is almost always visible from the customer area; I can see the people assembling the burgers, handling the fries, etc. At Yoshinoya and other domburi places, even though the shop is much smaller than a McDonald's, I am usually unable to see the person actually putting the rice and toppings into the bowls.

I suspect that efficiency of layout is the top priority in both cases, but I wouldn't be surprised if McDonald's is also consciously trying to show that their food is human-prepared, both in the store design and in their food photos.

by tkgally

4/15/2026 at 11:33:37 PM

It's about communication, the cashier needs to be able to shout "I need a Big Mac no pickles" and have the grill person hear it.

The new ones near me now have touch menu that customers enter and swipe payment instead of cashiers and the grill area is no longer visible.

by TurdF3rguson

4/16/2026 at 12:22:34 AM

Biggumakku!

by booleandilemma

4/15/2026 at 10:46:25 PM

Why are Japanese burgers significantly cheaper than the ones in the US? A Big Mac is 500 yen, that's like $3.

https://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/en/products/1210/

Big Macs haven't been that cheap since 2008 in the US.

by panny

4/15/2026 at 10:50:53 PM

If you've been to Japan any time recently you'd probably know that just about everything is cheaper in Japan, especially food and drink. I've been twice, most recently back in October, and I'm blown away by how relatively affordable things are. USD goes a long long way in Japan.

Oddly I could not find any cheaply priced Japanese Whiskey, and I looked around quite a bit. It was all about as much or more than what I could get it for in the states.

by TheGRS

4/15/2026 at 11:22:59 PM

Japan's salaries are much lower than those in the US. Even adjusted to PPP, the median salary in Japan is still significantly lower that in the US. Few would be able to afford food at US price levels.

by nine_k

4/16/2026 at 7:32:22 AM 

    > Oddly I could not find any cheaply priced Japanese Whiskey
Any bog-standard supermarket will carry a variety of very low end Japanese Whiskeys. You can easily find 750ml for about 1000 yen. It won't poison you(!), but it is pretty rough. At this price point, it is rarely drunk neat. Also, Japan has nationwide uniform alcohol taxes. Alcohol taxes vary widely in the US by jurisdiction.

by throwaway2037

4/16/2026 at 8:40:19 PM

I mean more like, I'd look for the stuff that's like $300-$400 in the US at various places that would sell it in Japan and generally speaking it was more expensive in the stores in Japan after conversion. I was expecting it'd be like similar price or less. So I opted to just buy the imports in the US.

by TheGRS

4/20/2026 at 1:51:02 PM

Oh, I misread your original post. You are looking for the "home country discount". Japan doesn't really have it for most things that are exported.

by throwaway2037

4/15/2026 at 10:59:03 PM

Three decades of deflation will do that. That ended a few years ago, but there's clearly lingering effects.

by chuckadams

4/15/2026 at 11:25:14 PM

Probably like 50%+ of the cost of restaurant food is labor and rent. Labor and rent are cheaper in Japan than in the US.

by quickthrowman

4/15/2026 at 10:53:22 PM

I don't know about McD's exactly, but food in general is very cheap in Japan compared to the U.S.

Source: I watch a lot of behind the scenes restaurant videos on YouTube and I'm always shocked at the prices. Most dishes are cheaper than if I were to go to the grocery store and cook it myself...

by gandreani

4/16/2026 at 1:18:05 AM

The US median salary is twice that of Japan, prices follow what people can afford to pay.

by kalleboo

4/16/2026 at 12:38:51 AM

Their meat also tastes like actual food compared to the US. McDonalds Japan is more like a gourmet meal experience, everything is delicious and the service is much faster and way more polite and pleasant in my experience.

by ranger_danger

4/15/2026 at 10:55:27 PM

When I was in cooking school there was a brief lesson in photo presentation. For something like a burger you would skew from front to back, going upward to the top bun to show the layers better but it wasn't visually noticeable that it was skewed on the photo. This seems like the same thing except the ai has chosen the side view instead of the frontal view, thus making the skew very noticeable.

by jnellis

4/16/2026 at 12:57:53 AM 

  A sweet disorder in the dressing  
  Kindles in food a wantonnessing;  
  A bun about the burgers thrown  
  Into a fine distraction;  
  An erring lettuce, which here and there  
  Enthrals the growling stomacher;  
  A sauce neglectful, and thereby  
  ketchup to flow confusedly;  
  A spilling salt, deserving note,  
  Into the rumpled sandwich tote;  
  A careless side dish, in whose fries  
  I see a wild ed'bility:  
  Do more bewitch me, than when meals  
  Are too precise in their appeals.

by satisfice

4/15/2026 at 10:01:46 PM

Generating media attention or protecting from Japanese regulations?

I wonder if it's related to their strict rules on realistic pictures for advertising products

by jokethrowaway

4/16/2026 at 3:20:57 AM

Seems like the right way to display them, no? If the buns (and all the layers of ingredients) were stacked perfectly, you wouldn't see very much of the ingredients inside.

The US site doesn't use this placement strategy, though. The Japanese one looks better. No surprise there.

by kelnos

4/16/2026 at 3:32:58 PM

It's more real. You wouldn't find a perfectly aligned burger in nature.

by butlike

4/16/2026 at 3:55:40 PM

I chalked it up as an affinity for wabi-sabi

by ztown

4/16/2026 at 3:45:21 PM

at my mcdonalds you're lucky if they even get the bun on at all...

by itsdavesanders

4/15/2026 at 9:58:19 PM

https://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/en/products/4600/

The Bai Egg Cheeseburger achieved more than slightly askew, it is defying gravity.

by fontain

4/15/2026 at 10:06:10 PM

It's going for a rendition of the leaning tower of Lire.

by ertgbnm

4/15/2026 at 10:11:35 PM

I've seen an interview with a food stylist and she pointed out that when putting pins and needles into a burger, then you have to pay real attention to that burger because you have a really great looking burger, full with pins and needles.

by yk

4/15/2026 at 10:06:13 PM

No way they didn't prop that one up behind the burger.

by ZeWaka

4/15/2026 at 10:07:37 PM

noone says you can't use industrial adhesives imperceptible to the advertised eye

by wavefunction

4/15/2026 at 10:13:23 PM

Oh man, my son would go nuts for that burger.

by dhosek

4/16/2026 at 1:13:39 PM

If you have OCD then do not look at those pictures!

I find these annoying. I guess they are going for organic/realistic rather than too perfect, but every other aspect of the photos - the aesthetically melting cheese, etc - follows the norms of fake fast food photography, so why bother?

by HarHarVeryFunny

4/16/2026 at 3:28:13 PM

You can find this style of product display in the US all the way back to the 60s, though McDonald's ads appear to favor sliding the bun more away from the camera than to the side. Also saw about equal number of burgers in a straight stack from that era

by petee

4/15/2026 at 10:17:30 PM

I don’t think this is a japanese thing. The way they are askew feels familiar; I have definitely seen food that looks weirdly “off” on other menus. It’s probably just a way to stand out, like how so many models have gaps between their two front teeth. You’re gonna remember the one that’s different.

by colpabar

4/16/2026 at 1:58:42 AM

Any other examples of burgers shown like this?

by msephton

4/15/2026 at 10:08:05 PM

Wonder if this is due to Japan’s marketing laws? Doing it this way exposes more of what’s between the bread.

by jhack

4/16/2026 at 12:53:54 AM

they're all tilted so the new comer don't feel so awkward with that bump on it's head --source: me

*edit: I'd like to also comment on the crazy lighting going on.. if the photographer of this can see this comment, please take a pic of the setup..this look quite intense

by alliao

4/16/2026 at 8:11:26 AM

Aren't there more strict laws on marketing imagery being similar to their actual products in Japan? Wonder if that plays into it, or if the photography team was just having fun.

by nfgrep

4/16/2026 at 2:37:35 AM

I remember in India's McDonalds there was a Maharaja Burger. In Lebanon they have falafel on the menu. This Japanese menu looks really enticing to be honest.

by anonu

4/16/2026 at 11:47:18 AM

I think some of those 'localised' menu items would sell well in the Uk and I hope McDonald's puts my hunch to the test.

by harvey9

4/15/2026 at 10:21:55 PM

Often (not always) the top bun is the worst offender, but it’s most certainly not just about the buns: if you look closely, the unique characteristic of Japanese McDonalds (separating it both from McDonalds in other countries as well as from other similar chains in Japan) is that in each photo every burger layer (be it bun, meat, lettuce, etc.) is offset by a seemingly-random factor on its X axis.

I’m sure discussions like this is exactly why they did it. Considering other chains in Japan don’t do this, it clearly has nothing with regulations (unless those are really unevenly enforced).

by strogonoff

4/16/2026 at 6:36:34 AM

They're not askew, they're in _italics_

by 4ndrewl

4/16/2026 at 7:08:13 AM

I think you mean italics.

by nandomrumber

4/16/2026 at 12:06:37 AM

This is doing a bigger number on me than it has any right to.

...why are they all skewed, save for the buns that are already lopsided? Those I'll note are perfectly seated. Some are more skewed than others. Like the Big Mac is only slightly skewed.

Is there a pecking order to how skewed they are? Some social hierarchy of sandwiches?

by ryanmcgarvey

4/16/2026 at 6:35:06 AM

They must get a kick too when they see our stoic, rigid, perfectly postured McWiches. Great post, OP +1

by sans_souse

4/16/2026 at 12:03:31 PM

Also look at the breading on that chicken, and I want a "shrimp filet-o" bad.

by jrochkind1

4/16/2026 at 4:19:03 PM

Hey! That's not McDonald's! That's マクドナルド！「Makudonarudo」

by waffletower

4/16/2026 at 12:42:15 AM

The sandwiches are wearing their hats, cocked a bit, in a devil-may-care kind of way.

by JKCalhoun

4/16/2026 at 1:23:37 PM

I need to buy one of these sandwiches so I can correct the alignment

by darepublic

4/16/2026 at 12:36:33 AM

It could be to reduce discrepancy (and the disappointment) between marketing and reality.

Reminds me of this monologue from the 1993 movie Falling Down [1]:

> See, this is what I'm talking about. Look at that. See what I mean? It's plump, juicy, three inches thick. Look at this sorry, miserable, squashed thing. Can anybody tell me what's wrong with this picture?

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciG8AKdp-GM

by selcuka

4/16/2026 at 5:08:19 PM

I find it even more fascinating that a few of them aren't.

by tehryanx

4/16/2026 at 9:23:34 AM

Is it me or are those prices dead cheap compared to UK / US?

by OwlsParlay

4/16/2026 at 9:28:09 AM

They are, wow. I had this age old Yen conversion wired into my brain: 100 Yen is one Euro. Boy did that change in the last decade or so, it's only half that now.

by fhd2

4/15/2026 at 11:19:58 PM

I relate McDonald's with the famous movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Size_Me And avoid at any cost

by yanko

4/15/2026 at 11:25:30 PM

You shouldn't. It was revealed later that Morgan Spurlock, the star of the movie, was also secretly drinking himself to death while he was making the documentary. Not to shame an addiction OR defend McDonalds too much here, but being a raging alcoholic and blaming your health problems on hamburgers and french fries on a massive public stage is/was extraordinarily irresponsible.

by swivelmaster

4/16/2026 at 7:21:48 AM

He also ate nothing but McDonald's - three meals a day, even if he was already "full". In one scene, he literally vomits, then continues eating the food.

Literally zero people do what Spurlock did in that film.

by Alupis

4/16/2026 at 7:35:52 PM

But many alcoholics do.

I've seen two in my life vomit while walking without missing a step.

by IAmBroom

4/15/2026 at 11:25:02 PM

FWIW, there is some controversy around the “methodology” and honesty in that film. Not saying you should change your view of McDonald’s, but possibly of that movie.

by timmg

4/15/2026 at 11:36:49 PM

The maker of that documentary was a massive alcoholic, that's what caused his liver problems, not eating McDonald's.

by JCTheDenthog

4/15/2026 at 11:22:13 PM

OK.

by UqWBcuFx6NV4r

4/16/2026 at 12:03:09 PM

Their menu looks so much better than ours (U.S.)

by HardwareLust

4/15/2026 at 11:56:44 PM

Silently screaming "Why?!" As a scroll

by homeonthemtn

4/16/2026 at 10:11:53 AM

Another mysterious thing is that McDonald's Japan burgers taste completely different from European or Americans. The spices and sauces there are not the same, I suspect they made it that way to make it tailored to the local preferences!

by Lucasoato

4/16/2026 at 10:17:16 AM

This is not so mysterious, when you consider the state of any ethnic food in the United States.

It is basically expected that any foreign chef must adapt their idea of cuisine to fit the available ingredients and processes in the host country. It is simply a fact of life that there are many fruits and vegetables, to begin with, that are rare or nonexistent here in the USA. And centuries ago, Chinese food as we know it originated in San Francisco, based on ingredients that could be readily acquired in San Francisco on an immigrant's budget.

Some produce and even animals can be cultivated stateside by immigrant communities, but it's simply prohibitive to try and exactly reproduce foreign cuisines here. You will basically find that American fruits, vegetables, and animals are adopted and "Western fusion" cuisine rules the roost here.

It may be surprising that a "Three-Ring Binder" franchise like McDonald's should have local variation, when their pride is being completely uniform and predictable in the USA. On any American highway I can pull into a McD's and count on having exactly the same meal as anywhere else. But if you cross an international border, a hemisphere, into new climates and terroirs, you should expect significant variation.

by ButlerianJihad

4/15/2026 at 11:17:45 PM

Why doesnt USA get an egg cheeseburger :(

by InMice

4/15/2026 at 11:58:41 PM

You might be able to put something together if there's still overlap between breakfast and lunch on Sundays?

by toast0

4/16/2026 at 4:29:10 PM

I would agree

by InMice

4/16/2026 at 5:18:01 AM

A lot of odd takes in the comments.

I think the most correct take is that seeing a the top bun slightly off is more realistic and honest.

Respecting your customers, even in advertising, is appreciated.

by jamesrom

4/16/2026 at 12:36:16 AM

Adding "trying McDonald's" to my long list of reasons to travel to Japan.

by lizardking

4/16/2026 at 10:39:06 AM

Wabi-sabi.

by vegetablepotpie

4/16/2026 at 4:09:29 AM

This is the content I come to orange site for.

by sonzohan

4/16/2026 at 12:18:04 AM

Dang! Now I can't unsee it.

by drob518

4/16/2026 at 3:47:56 AM

[dead]

by sparin9

4/15/2026 at 10:39:18 PM

[dead]

by theturtle

4/15/2026 at 10:54:03 PM

[dead]

by huflungdung

4/16/2026 at 12:32:54 AM

[flagged]

by chrneu

4/16/2026 at 3:39:41 AM

Please don't do this here.`

by dang

4/16/2026 at 1:56:09 AM

This isn't interesting.

Does it imply there is a cultural difference that would make this style more lucrative in Japan than other places? Does it suggest compositionally the alignment of asymmetric shapes in a regular form is more satisfying than a regular arrangement of identical forms? Does it imply that given an array of nearly identical choices it's important to add some noise visually to distinguish?

I'm a cynical person by nature but I'm seriously not understanding what makes this interesting.

We might as well discuss the effectiveness of simulated grime in the most recent Clorox advertising campaign?

by hecanjog

4/16/2026 at 8:41:35 AM

The 192 other comments from interested people seem like pretty strong counter-evidence to your claim.

You've also listed a few questions that seem pretty interesting to me, from a curiosity perspective.

by Liftyee

4/16/2026 at 8:03:21 PM

It's simply a matter of market psychology. Some find that interesting, others may not. Culture is a factor in psychology, so yeah, that too.

by standardly