{"id":5939,"date":"2015-05-20T10:15:24","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T15:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/?p=5939"},"modified":"2018-07-29T09:49:58","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T14:49:58","slug":"is-sarah-michelle-gellar-really-banned-for-life-from-mcdonalds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2015\/05\/20\/is-sarah-michelle-gellar-really-banned-for-life-from-mcdonalds\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Sarah Michelle Gellar Really Banned for Life From McDonald&#8217;s?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about TV and whether they are true or false. Click <a href=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2009\/04\/19\/tv-legends-revealed-history\/\">here<\/a> to view an archive of the TV urban legends featured so far.<\/p>\n<p><u><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">TV URBAN LEGEND<\/span><\/u>: Sarah Michelle Gellar was banned for life from eating at McDonald&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p>In the first episode of her short-lived CBS sitcom <em>The Crazy Ones<\/em>, Sarah Michelle Gellar&#8217;s ad executive character Sydney Roberts is forced to sing a classic McDonald&#8217;s jingle, \u201cYou Deserve a Break Today,&#8221; in a crowded restaurant to Kelly Clarkson to convince Clarkson to perform the song in a commercial for McDonald&#8217;s so that Roberts&#8217; company can retain their lucrative McDonald&#8217;s account. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/sarah-michelle-gellar-kelly-clarkson-crazy-ones-singing.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/sarah-michelle-gellar-kelly-clarkson-crazy-ones-singing1.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><iframe style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&#038;OneJS=1&#038;Operation=GetAdHtml&#038;MarketPlace=US&#038;source=ac&#038;ref=qf_sp_asin_til&#038;ad_type=product_link&#038;tracking_id=legenrevea-20&#038;marketplace=amazon&#038;region=US&#038;placement=B00FGM0B10&#038;asins=B00FGM0B10&#038;linkId=4NOQTBKHU7VW44HU&#038;show_border=true&#038;link_opens_in_new_window=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The irony of the moment is that Gellar is supposedly banned for life from McDonald&#8217;s after the company sued her when she was just a little girl. Is that <strong>true<\/strong>, though?<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nThe story gained wide acceptance a while back when <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tmz.com\/videos\/0_vktmku61\/\">TMZ ran a story on the topic<\/a>, with Gellar seemingly confirming the story (on the way to her car after leaving a restaurant). The story consists of basically three parts:<\/p>\n<p>1. Gellar was involved with Burger King commercials that, for the first time ever, showed a company calling out a competitor by name<br \/>\n2. Burger King and Gellar were then sued by McDonald&#8217;s over the ads.<br \/>\n3. The lawsuit was settled and Gellar was banned from McDonald&#8217;s for life.<\/p>\n<p><center><a href=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/burgerkingsarah1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/burgerkingsarah1.jpg\" alt=\"burgerkingsarah1\" width=\"428\" height=\"410\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6393\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/burgerkingsarah1.jpg 428w, https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/burgerkingsarah1-300x287.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 428px) 100vw, 428px\" \/><\/a><\/center><\/p>\n<p>All three parts of the story are basically false.<\/p>\n<p>First off, the ad campaign launched by Burger King in fall 1982 (when Gellar was 5 years old, by the way; most versions of the story have her as 4, or the commercials airing in 1981) wasn\u2019t the first time a company referred to a competitor by name in a commercial. However, it was the first time one of the three big hamburger chains (McDonald\u2019s, Burger King and Wendy\u2019s) had gone that route. Companies tend to be wary about mentioning competitors for fear of being sued. In this instance, McDonald\u2019s did just that, seeking an injunction in federal court to prevent Burger King from debuting a new series of ads, specifically one starring the young Gellar explaining that Burger King burgers were 20 percent larger than McDonald\u2019s burgers, and that Burger King \u201cflame broiled\u201d their burgers while McDonald\u2019s \u201cfried\u201d theirs. Here\u2019s the ad in question:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"515\" height=\"386\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-Ss7_5PSnyA\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>McDonald\u2019s position was that the commercials were misleading, claiming that Burger King did not necessarily broil its burgers, but often steamed them or used a microwave. McDonald\u2019s also took issue with Burger King\u2019s ads asserting the Whopper defeated the Big Mac in a taste test. McDonald\u2019s wanted the court to force Burger King to reveal how the taste tests were handled.<\/p>\n<p>The injunction was denied, but the legal case continued (Wendy\u2019s then also sued over the taste test claim, because Burger King gave out bumper stickers touting its \u201cvictory\u201d over McDonald\u2019s and Wendy\u2019s).<\/p>\n<p>Gellar was named in the McDonald\u2019s lawsuit, and had to testify about claims like \u201cThat\u2019s why I eat at Burger King instead of McDonald\u2019s.\u201d It appeared as if McDonald\u2019s was trying to win the case by harassment more than anything, as it was a stretch to brand a little girl\u2019s statements as an actress in a commercial \u201cmisleading.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The case settled by the end of the year (Burger King had already received a sales bump so the company figured it wasn\u2019t worth continuing), and Burger King pulled the offending ads. Gellar continued to appear in Burger King ads, doing roughly 30 spots for the company.<\/p>\n<p>Now as to whether she was banned from McDonald\u2019s \u2026 she was not.<\/p>\n<p>The crazy thing is that the source of all of these stories is an interview Gellar gave to a British newspaper in 2004 where she opens up by saying:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cBanned is a strong word,\u201d she begins, a little defensively. \u201cWhen I was five I did a commercial for Burger King.\u201d It was the first ad in the States to name and shame a rival. \u201cMcDonald\u2019s were so outraged, they sued Burger King and named me in the lawsuit. I wasn\u2019t allowed to eat there. It was tough because, when you\u2019re a little kid, McDonald\u2019s is where all your friends have their birthday parties, so I missed out on a lot of apple pies.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>She says right off the top that she <strong>wasn\u2019t<\/strong> really banned. It was just a matter of a little girl starring in a famous commercial knocking McDonald\u2019s would not then go to the restaurant. Gellar spoke to David Letterman about the issue, as well, and there she phrased it in that manner \u2014 that she would still go to McDonald\u2019s as a kid but she would be worried about being recognized as the face of Burger King. She would wear a hat or dark glasses.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m sure Gellar got a kick out of it years later when she was starring on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and they did an entire episode in which her character works at a fast-food restaurant (it\u2019s not very flattering to burger chains).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/buffyburger-570x371.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/buffyburger-570x371.jpg\" alt=\"buffyburger-570x371\" width=\"515\" height=\"335\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/buffyburger-570x371.jpg 515w, https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/buffyburger-570x371-300x195.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 515px) 100vw, 515px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The legend is&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><u><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">STATUS<\/span><\/u>: False<\/p>\n<p>Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is &#x62;cr&#x6f;&#110;i&#x6e;&#64;l&#x65;&#103;e&#x6e;&#100;s&#x72;&#x65;v&#x65;&#x61;l&#x65;&#x64;.&#x63;&#x6f;m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about TV and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the TV urban legends featured so far. TV URBAN LEGEND: Sarah Michelle Gellar was banned for life from eating at McDonald&#8217;s. In the first episode of her [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[8],"tags":[2345],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7MjBq-1xN","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5866,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2014\/09\/15\/did-lost-in-space-coin-the-term-does-not-compute\/","url_meta":{"origin":5939,"position":0},"title":"Did Lost in Space Coin the Term &#8220;Does Not Compute?&#8221;","date":"September 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about TV and whether they are true or false. 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