What you see in food ads is not what you get to eat. The food is styled and made to look delicious when it is not. Food ads and menu pictures are deceptive in that they are “doctored” to look better than the food really looks and tastes.
There are ways to enhance the look of food for ads and menus. It is similar to your being an actor and the makeup artist uses makeup to have you gorgeous. In real life, you look fine, but not gorgeous. Just like there are professional makeup artists, there are professional food stylists who can make food look scrumptious. In real life, the food is rather ordinary looking and tasking.
Food chains are more likely to us professional food stylists to make the food in their ads look as luscious as possible. The professionals have an array of tricks.
For example, they will undercook the meat in a hamburger. Instead of looking like a flat piece of cardboard as it does in real life, the hamburger look big and juicy. The vegetables on the hamburger are prominently displayed in the ads. In real life the vegetables are of wilted due to the warm food being boxed, and the box creates a stream effect. The problem is with truth in advertising food.
See another example from 20/20 below of dirt fast food secrets: