This is like that time I found out they used mashed potatoes to take product pictures of ice cream

I’m not super surprised, those commercials always look fake af

Wow you are dragging me back to my childhood when i found this out from the Consumer Reports magazine for kids

Note that (in the U.S., at least) whatever product is actually being advertised legally has to be real in the photos.  So if you were advertising a hot fudge sundae topping, the ice cream would be mashed potatoes and the topping would be real.  If you were advertising ice cream, the ice cream would have to be real but the fudge topping might be something like white glue mixed with acrylic paint.