Stuck for something for dinner and late home from work this evening I picked up a complete bargain at Iceland: £1 for a pack of two Chicago Town "The Deep Dish" pepperoni pizzas. I've always liked these and at this price you can't go wrong.

I liked these particular instances even if I slightly overcooked them, but my enjoyment was tempered by the arguably false advertising on the box, which boasts about how the pizza is "topped to overflowing with tomato sauce, pepperoni slices and so much melt-in-the-mouth mozzarella cheese, that it takes a deep dish base to hold all the topping in". The emphasis is theirs. They even illustrate the point with a photo demonstrating the approximately 15:85 base:topping ratio, complete with oodles of that tempting cheese. Here's their photo on the left, and mine on the right.

 

Now I'm no investigative journalist but it seems like the 15:85 ratio has been reversed for the actual pizza on my plate compared to the picture on the box. And the near centimetre deep layer of mozzarella? Missing in action. Don't get me wrong – still a bargain for £1 and damn tasty with it – but they've stuck their neck on the block here and should reap the scorn deserved.

Update: I sent an email to the customer service department who have responded to ensure me that the batch in question did not record any anomalies, so my disappointingly topped pizza must have been a one-off. That must go for all four pizzas in the two boxes I bought! They've sent me a voucher for a free pizza to ease the pain. Fair enough, but this is clearly a stock response and I suspect they know full well it wasn't a one off and that their pizzas are always a long way from meeting the promise on the box. Cynical, moi? Can I be bothered to continue to kick up a fuss? I don't think that big corporations should be able to get away with this sort of blatant deceit and disrespect for the customer, but it's just not worth it.