Hold the cheese
SIMON CROWE: We're launching Grill'd patties at Coles.
- Seven 6pm News (Sydney), 5 August 2025
Hello, welcome to Media Watch, I'm Julia Baird, filling in for Linton Besser who is off for a couple of weeks.
And tonight, a treat for fans of that fast-food staple of minced meat slapped between two buns:
GEORGIA HOLLAND: The burger chain launching its first ever retail range to capitalise on the fakeaway fad …
Helping Aussies recreate Friday night favourites for a fraction of the price.
- Seven 6pm News (Sydney), 5 August 2025
Yes, a burger chain and a supermarket giant linking arms to sell ground beef.
Seven considered the new deal national news, running it coast to coast, and coincidentally, the presenters were all reading from similar television scripts:
ANGELA COX: More families are cooking at home to save and now Burger Night has been given an upgrade.
- Seven 6pm News (Sydney), 5 August 2025
ROSANNA MANGIARELLI: … thanks to Grill'd, Burger Night has just been given an upgrade.
- Seven 6pm News (Adelaide), 5 August 2025
SAMANTHA HEATHWOOD: … Burger Night has been given an upgrade.
- Seven 6pm News (Brisbane), 5 August 2025
The news package was jammed with appetising close ups of the finely-shredded bovine, not the made-at-home version mind you. As well as lingering camera shots of the burgers in their new habitat, Coles supermarket baskets, with a passing mention of other brands following the same trend.
There was also a Coles spokesperson on hand to explain that the supermarket was, in fact, doing us a favour and not just trying to flog marked-up burger patties:
JESSICA TANCRED: … We're giving our customers exactly what they want. They're telling us that they're eating more at home in order to save.
- Seven 6pm News (Sydney), 5 August 2025
While the Grill'd founder was making sure people understood dining in would still not be quite as good as dining out:
SIMON CROWE: No-one can cook like our guys in the restaurants. They're superstars.
- Seven 6pm News (Sydney), 5 August 2025
And if all this had you feeling a little like you wandered out of the news bulletin and into an advertisement, well, you wouldn't be far off, because next morning Grill'd dropped the pretense and released its promotional news pack including that same Coles spokesperson:
JESSICA TANCRED: Today's announcement delivers on exactly what our customers have been telling us. They're looking to eat more at home in order to save …
- Coles Video Press Release, 6 August 2025
And uncannily the same cheeky quote from the Grill'd founder:
SIMON CROWE: No-one can cook like our guys in the restaurants. They're superstars.
- Coles Video Press Release, 6 August 2025
Nine also cooked up its own version of the story using strikingly similar shots, but in a somewhat more nuanced report:
CHRIS KOHLER: … packs of four will go for $12.50, compared with Coles classic burgers for $8.50. So the brand comes at a hefty premium …
- Nine News (Sydney), 5 August 2025
With added protein from an independent expert.
In Perth and Melbourne, Seven were even claiming the fakeaway trend was whipped up by Grill'd itself:
PETER MITCHELL: … a new fad has arrived. It's called fakeaway and it's the brainchild of a burger giant trying to help families save from the comfort of their kitchens.
- Seven 6pm News (Melbourne), 5 August 2025
Yes, a 'new' fad from those genius Grill'd marketeers, only Seven should have known its fakeaway scoop was hardly new, running an item on it about three years ago.
And again in 2023 on Sunrise, featuring a branded Coles cook to show us how it's done:
MICHAEL WELDON: … so fakeaway is becoming a real trend, bit of cooking at home, but making it feel like takeaway.
- Sunrise, Seven, 20 April 2023
We asked Seven about its culinary news item. It told us the segment was all about helping families:
So many Australians can't afford to stretch their pay packets for things like the odd takeaway treat for their children and feel guilty doing so in the current cost of living crisis. This story gave them affordable options.
- Email, Seven Spokesperson, 8 August, 2025
Now, we know it can be difficult to resist the temptation of cheap, prepackaged television news but can we suggest that next time Seven's News chiefs are deciding what to plate up for their flag-ship evening bulletin, they offer their audiences a somewhat more balanced diet of, say, actual news.
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