A disgruntled customer has sued Taco Bell after his Mexican Pizza did not look like the one advertised in the company’s promotional photos.
Frank Siragusa was unhappy with the pizza he bought for $5.49 from New York City last September and has accused Taco Bell of deceiving customers by falsely advertising Mexican Pizzas as well as Veggie Mexican Pizzas, Crunchwrap Supremes, Grande Crunchwraps, and Vegan Cruchwraps.
In court documents, Siragusa juxtaposed Taco Bell’s promotional photos for the various items alongside his “actual” photos of the products he had bought. While the marketing images show fully stacked sandwiches packed with meat, cheese, and colorful vegetables; conversely his own images are drab and significantly skinnier by comparison.
Siragusa from Ridgewood, New York insists in his complaint that Taco Bell’s ads are “unfair and financially damaging to consumers,” and “especially concerning now that inflation, food, and meat prices are very high and many consumers, especially lower income consumers, are struggling financially.”
“If Plaintiff knew that the Mexican Pizza contained half of the amount of beef and bean filling as advertised, he would not have purchased the Mexican Pizza and/or he would not have paid the $5.49 price that he paid for the Mexican Pizza,” his attorney writes in the lawsuit.
The proposed class-action lawsuit is seeking at least $5 million for Taco Bell customers who have purchased the items in New York state within the last three years.
Taco Bell has so far not responded to the lawsuit.
This Has Happened Before
One of Siragusa’s lawyers, Anthony Russo, filed a similar case in Miami last year against Burger King. In that instance, Russo said that Burger King advertisement photos show “oversized meat patties and ingredients that overflow over the bun to make it appear that the burgers are approximately 35% larger in size, and contain more than double the meat than the actual burger.”
That case has reached an impasse.
In an email to Reuters, Russo says that “Taco Bell does not adequately disclose the weight of the beef or filling.” Adding that, “Plaintiff did not make any purchases of the product based on any weight disclosure but solely based on the picture of the product, as we believe most consumers do.”
Image credits: Frank Siragusa vs. Taco Bell Corp.