Is BK trying to pull a fast one?

I've been trying to make sense of a story the Boston Herald ran last week about a change in the menus of Beantown's Burger King units. If I'm reading it correctly, the King should be thrown into the dungeon for a stretch, even if he is making a chump out of Red Sox fans. The article says the chain is telling shoppers they'll find new bargains on the menu, when in fact the "deals" are just the same old thing with a new label slapped on.

Last week, the story reports, the Boston-area restaurants rolled out the value menu the chain announced some time ago. "Problem is," writes Donna Goodison, "there's no value in the pricing."

The new value-sized soft drink, for instance, is what was formerly sold as the "small," at the same price, Goodison reports.

BK is sweetening its values in other ways, apparently. For instance, the story says what was sold as a medium drink is presented as the small, presumably at a lower price. That means the same for less.

It's surprising that the Home of the Whopper, one of fast-food's outstanding performers in recent years, would be so foolhardy as to risk alienating savvy customers at a time like this. Why dare to tarnish the crown?