A Big Mac

Hi, welcome to McDonalds! What can I get for you?

Ugh, this was how every day started at work and I had enough of the boring, mindless routine. Especially when he was looking at me. Who is he you ask?

I mean look at that. The only people who don’t want to shove that down their throats are vegans. I had to look at that picture staring down at me every minute of every day as people ordered a Big Mac expecting to get that beauty on their plates when all they got was sad, little me. I could never compare to him. He had the perfect proportions, the perfect cheese melt, and a perfect sesame seed bun. What else would customers experience other than sadness when their burger came back and did not look as appetizing? I was doomed to disappoint.

That photograph ruined my confidence not simply because it existed, but because of what it did to the people who viewed it. I would have been accepting if that beautiful burger lived without anyone seeing it, because then I would have nothing to be compared to. However, these photographs have a certain “attraction and provocativeness” that the human brain simply cannot deny. Yes, that photograph may be a lie, but we cannot fault the company because they are simply trying to sell a product that everyone should know is not realistic. Instead, the fault lies with the humans who naively believe that the burger they get will be perfect every time.