KFC is receiving brutal backlash this week after a disgruntled customer posted a photo of what he claimed was a Chicken Ricebox he got from KFC to Reddit.
The post appeared on /r/food, a popular subreddit dedicated to delicious-looking photos and recipes from around the world.
The user uploaded a photo of the Chicken Ricebox taken from KFC materials and placed it next to what he said was a photo of a Chicken Ricebox he'd actually received. Some members of this foodie-centric group of Redditors found the difference in appearance between the two photos unacceptable.
Here's the submitted side-by-side image from user atheistlee:
The customer claimed in the comment section that he paid £6.08 for the meal at a UK location. That adds up to $9.23.
Though many Redditors sympathized with the customer, calling the photo "unacceptable" and "disgusting," there were several users who apparently thought his standards were too high.
The second highest voted comment came from /u/the_k00ler_king, who said, "Come on. You seriously could not expect that [the advertised photo] from a multi-national fast food place, could you?"
Another user adjusted the lighting on the photo, arguing that a better camera would have resulted in a much better comparison.
Here's the "fixed" version:
This resulted in some improvement, but the two dishes still didn't look identical.
Of course, there's the possibility that this was a hoax. Just this spring, a Facebook user achieved virality by claiming that an oddly shaped piece of chicken from KFC was a "fried rat." It turned out to just be a piece of chicken.
We reached out to KFC to find out whether they think this particular photo actually shows a meal from KFC. A spokesperson responded with this statement, which they also provided to the Daily Mail:
We are really sorry about this. Clearly this Ricebox was not served as it should have been and we are in contact with the customer to apologise.
We are also reminding all of our restaurants of the right way to serve Riceboxes. We always want our customers to be happy with both the look and taste of their food so this is very disappointing.
Plenty of consumers have sought to compare fast food meals' presentation in advertising with the way they look in real life. Last year, YouTube channel MediocreFilms released a video called "Fast Food ADS vs. REALITY Experiment." The hidden camera exposé aimed to demonstrate the lackluster appearance of iconic meals like the Big Mac or Whopper.
The video now has over 8 million views and counting.
There is also an entire subreddit called "Expectation vs Reality," where many of the posts are food items from fast-food restuarants or the frozen food section.
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