McDonald's has been accused of "deliberate sleight of hand" over the branding of its popular McRib sandwich. A lawsuit filed in Illinois claims that the product's name and visual design mislead consumers because the dish contains no pork rib meat at all. Newsweek reports this, writes UNN.
Details
The plaintiffs insist that the use of the name "McRib" and the characteristic ribbed shape of the patty lead a "reasonable consumer" to believe that they are purchasing a product made from real rib meat. Instead, the complaint states that the patty is made by restructuring cheaper pork offal.
According to the text of the lawsuit, instead of ribs, the ingredients include:
- pork shoulder;
- heart;
- tripe;
- scalded stomach.
Legal implications and consumer protection
The plaintiffs are asking the court to grant the case class-action status, which would allow them to represent the interests of all McRib buyers in the United States. Lawyers plan to prove that McDonald's uses a strategy of artificial scarcity of the dish to manipulate customer expectations.
The outcome of the case could set an important precedent for the fast-food industry. The court will have to determine whether a brand name must correspond to the actual composition of the ingredients, or whether it is merely an element of marketing that does not oblige the company to use specific cuts of meat.
Reasonable consumers are confident that the sandwich they are biting into is exactly what the name implies. The name McRib is a deliberate sleight of hand that leads one to believe in the presence of a significant amount of real pork rib meat.