If it seems too good to be true, it probably is … a sentiment that rings particularly true when it comes to suspiciously cheap meat.


On Wednesday, Wendy’s decided to take its reputation for the fast and cheap option when the already fast and cheap McDonald’s is nowhere to be found to new lows, offering customers a  Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger for the eyebrow-arching low price of one penny.



Spanning from December 27 to January 2, the deal, honoring National Bacon Day,  is as delicious as it is suspicious, fans questioning why, exactly, there are so many days honoring bacon — our cholesterol can only take so much — but why is this price so damn low?


“I am not aware of this campaign or whatever but I will say if fast food is being sold for 1 cent then I’m wondering wth is in it,” one Redditor replied to a r/conspiracy_commons post detailing a similar promotion from earlier this year.


“Right?” replied u/No-Art5800. “No company decides to take a total loss on something... Without a reason.”


While u/momo88852 chalked it up to a loss leader — “Brings in more customers,” they explained, “it helps us spread the news about new products, and people get to try it” — others weren’t sold by this logical explanation.


“Fast food burgers are questionable no matter what price they’re selling them for,” observed u/PuckeredBhole.


To paraphrase Taylor Swift, we think we’ve seen this film before — the film being Soylent Green — and we didn’t like the ending.