Have you ever gone into McDonalds with the intention of grabbing a quick bite, but then walk out with more than you can chew? Ever wondered why? This is because McDonalds are not just masters in flipping burgers, they’re also masters in flipping your decisions without you realising. Through sneaky tricks such as anchoring and framing, they manage to convince you to spend more, eat more, and feel like it was your decision the whole time. This blog breaks down exactly how they do it and why we fall for it every time.
Let's start by discussing how it works. Framing is a key
concept in behavioural economics, and this is simply about how information is
presented. You can take the exact same idea and phrase it in different ways,
and just a slight change in the wording can completely shift how it’s received.
It’s not about the information itself, but how it is presented. For example, a
yoghurt could be displayed as “90% fat free” or “contains 10% fat”. Same
underlying message, however the first one naturally sounds healthier. This is
framing in action; same facts but different feeling.
Not Just a Menu – A Mind Game
Take a look at the bottom right corner of the display and
you can see that the price of a medium meal is boldly listed at £5.39. It’s
eye-catching, it's the first number we see, and that is no accident.
This is a classic example of anchoring; a behavioural
economics trick where the first number we see, will act as a reference point
for future decisions we make. So when deciding what meal to get, we may have
the intention to only get a medium meal, but when we see a large meal for 40p
extra, we think that this is an absolute bargain, extra food and drink for a
small cost. But this is perfect manipulation as we only ever had the intention
of spending £5.39, but now we have been upsold into spending more money, just
because we think that McDonalds are doing us a favour.
Let's break this down further, if you were to buy a large
fries on its own instead of a medium fries, this would cost an extra 50p. The
same goes for upgrading your soft drink from medium to large, this would cost
an extra 60p. In total, we gain £1.10 worth of food and drink extra for just
40p.
But this then begs the question, did we just save 70p, or
did we just get manipulated into spending an extra 40p on something we might
not have needed.
Well, this isn't your fault. The McDonalds displays weren’t
whipped together last minute like your homework, it was carefully thought out
to evoke certain emotions. In this scenario we aren’t choosing freely, we are
being nudged in the direction that McDonalds want us to go in. That feeling of
getting more food for just a little more money makes us feel like we are
winning.
Notice how they don’t just say the large meal costs £5.79.
Instead, they frame it as “only 40p more.” This is an example of how anchoring
and framing work hand in hand. £5.79 sounds like a big jump, however saying
“why not just spend 40p extra than what you were already going to spend to get
more food”? Suddenly, it feels like an easy yes.
This is how easy we truly are. Present things in slightly
different ways and this completely changes our behaviour.
And yes, I know some people walk into McDonalds with the
intention of buying a large meal as they are hungry, McDonalds are not
manipulating people to be more hungry.
But what they are doing is targeting those that weren’t
planning on spending that much, so they use subtle psychological cues to push
you towards the pricier option, using framing and anchoring in order to control
our behaviour. And we fall for it every time.
So who’s really in charge of your order?
We like to think we are in control of our choices; but as
we’ve seen, that’s not always the case. McDonalds don’t force you to buy more,
they make you want more. With tools like framing and anchoring, they gently
guide you in the direction that they want you to go, and they make you feel
like it was your decision the whole time.
And it’s not just McDonalds. These tactics are everywhere,
ranging from supermarkets to streaming services. That “great value” deal more
often than not is just a cleverly framed nudge designed to influence what you
are going to pick.
So next time you're about to tap “go large”, pause for a
second. Ask yourself, is this really my choice or am I falling for the same
trap again.
Because when it comes to what we buy… maybe we were never
really choosing at all.
References
https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev.polisci.10.072805.103054
https://keep-up-with-the-jones-family.com/mcdonalds-digital-restaurant-of-future/
(Mcdonalds image)
https://www.behavioraleconomics.com/loving-psychology-behind-mcdonalds-restaurant-future/?utm_source
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/epi-2-nudging-nicholas-mason/
https://www.360insights.com/blog/how-anchoring-and-framing-can-make-you-a-better-marketer
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