Off-screen and on-screen realities continue to surprise the most die-hard foodies amongst us. The food that looks so enticing served on the plate in the advertisements is actually a hoax, which, if tasted, would ruin our health beyond repair. So, it is the soap bubbles in milk cup, and motor oil on pancakes that are behind their edible looks and feel.
- Glue- the deceptive tool!
It is only in advertisements that you get to see dew fresh flakes of corn, encased in foaming layers of milk, blended to finesse and presented in a designer bowl. Corn in the advertised bowl does not get soggy and manages to look dew fresh even after hours. Food stylists of today use glue to achieve lasting freshness.
- Shoe polish-not only on your shoes!
Impressed with the perfectly cooked hamburger, that is charred to perfection and perfectly grilled, in the TV ad? Brown shoe polish, blowtorch and branding iron are behind this transformation. Grill marks are due to the branding iron, blowtorch is used to sear the steak, and finally it is the shoe polish that colours it perfectly brown.
- Hair sprays on vegetables? Read on.
Hair spray is also used to give even dying vegetables, wilted beyond normal, a fresh and soft feel. Fruits like grapes, as seen in advertisements, appear to have a matt look, with a light dust on their surface. Actually, the plain old deodorant is behind the frosty and delicious look of grapes that we see in the ads.
- Mashed Potatoes- a substitute for ice cream?
Ever wondered why you don’t find fluffy ice cream layers on top of your cone in the nearby Baskin Robin joint? They arrange mashed potatoes artistically on the cone, to make all the perceivable difference. It pays to be photogenic these days.
- Glycerine-that handy tear jerker….
Eminently tailor made to look like real tears, glycerine has manipulated human emotions to evoke the right measure of pity, from viewers, in the movies. But nowadays, it has found better uses as a substitute for moist look on week old sea foods, beer bottles, and salad leaves for added succulence.
- Motor Oil on your pancake!
Pancakes and motor oils are a rare combination that never looked edible and appetizing together. They look delectable with dripping sweet goodness of butter spread all over. In reality, the moistened loveliness of the pancake is due to dollops of motor oil spread lavishly on it.
- Sesame seeds and tweezers- a laborious effort
You would applaud at the expertise of the culinary wizard in dishing out a picture perfect bun topped with the sesame seeds scattered carelessly all over. Tweezers are actually used to place sesame seeds carefully to give them such feisty look.
- That cup of foaming milk –beware!
Milk never looked or tasted better than in tall silver cups, and served in cool trays. What about that steaming cup of hot milk that always looks freshly poured. It might shock you to know that they resort to using soap water and bubbles to achieve that fresh steamy look on the milk in the cups.
- Weight loss ads: don’t be fooled!
People worried about their growing girth make a beeline for online fitness products. Before and after photos are presented in a life transforming way. Actually, those skinny models achieve this slim look by slapping loads of tan cream on their stomachs, and pose with their tummy tucked in.
- Shampoo for that glossy look
Of course, today’s busy schedules really have that devastating effect on health and hair and are almost gone before we even realize it. The flowing shiny bouncy volume of hair which the models sport in ad flicks is just a visual trick that manages to fool the naïve customers. It is just a magic woven using hair extensions and blow dryers.