- Carl's Jr. and McDonald's are both burger-focused fast-food chains, but one is much bigger than the other.
- I went to both chains to eat their most famous burgers and to see why one had such a big brand advantage over the other.
- I found that the food wasn't the deciding factor: Carl's Jr. had a slightly better burger and much better fries, but McDonald's remains the more beloved brand.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
What happens to a brand when it's forced to change its identity?
Sure, there's that little golden star. But what Carl's Jr. is often known for is its controversial 2000s advertising strategy, which relied on skimpily clad supermodels taking big, suggestive bites of oversized burgers.
But after sex-sells advertising went out of fashion, Carl's Jr. never really found a new identity. Meanwhile McDonald's, its biggest competitor in the fast-food world, successfully rebounded from the damage its reputation suffered from "Fast Food Nation" and "Supersize Me."
So what makes McDonald's the burger of the world and Carl's Jr. just another fast-food burger chain? I set out to find out by eating similar meals at both chains. Here's what I found: