"All You Can Eat!"
—FatBoys
Somewhere around the 1960s marketers began picking up on what’s known as “impulse purchase decisions.” They discovered that many shoppers were buying smaller ticket items not out of want or need, but out of impulse and convenience. The more opportunities shoppers had to indulge their impulses the more they spent. So they began putting items near checkout registers where the opportunity for impulse purchase is highest. It worked like gangbusters. Today checkout lines are surrounded by racks and kiosks filled with nonessentials. And they never fail to move product. But it doesn’t stop there.
Doctors say that more often than not when people feel hungry, their body is actually telling them to get water, not food. Unfortunately, water isn’t what the food hustlers want you to buy most. That’s why they’ve made sure some type of food is available everywhere you go: Laundromats. Toy stores. Coffee shops. Gas stations. Clothing stores. Music stores. Bookstores. Schools. Vending machines on every corner. Food is everywhere for a reason. As long as people see food, they’ll think food. The more they think food, the more food they’ll buy. Remember: Out of sight, out of mind; but top of mind, bottom of wallet.
It’s just one more perfectly ethical part of The Hustle.
Super Size Me!
Been to a Pizza Hut, Applebee’s, Panda Express, or a Chipotle lately? The portions are huge. No matter where you go, today’s “kiddie meal” could’ve stuffed an adult 15 years ago. But now we’ve got burritos big as footballs… Steaks the size of Frisbees… Pasta dishes the size of LP’s… Side dishes as big as entrees… 12 and 16oz drinks have replaced 8 oz as the norm… Pizzas are now as big as rims… It’s outta control.
And what hasn’t gone over-the-top huge has turned “mini-me”: Bite-sized candy bars… mini cookies… mini snack cakes… mini quesadillas and baby eggrolls… mini burgers and baby chicken wings… Traditional sit-down fare is now on-the-go munchables. And since they’re sold in quantity, that bang-for-the-buck angle sucks in cost-conscious consumers looking for savings (Sam’s Club).
Why?
Because marketers have also twisted folks into equating smaller portions with “healthier.” Many health-conscious types roll with a couple small candy bars thinking it’s healthier than eating one big one… Eight nuggets/wings/tenders are healthier than 4 big pieces of chicken and so on. But of course it’s just as bad, only now we’re eating more of ‘em. And don’t think McDonald’s 2004 phase-out of their “super-size” portions won’t wind up making them more money long term. It’s all drug trafficking 101: Hook ‘em with samples; reel ‘em in on the comeback.
Why is size the great American USP? Well it’s hard to compete on taste—everyone’s picky, tastes change, and after a while everything tastes the same anyway. But size? Americans equate size with value. Ten pieces of chicken for 8 bucks is value. A 99-cent burger? Boring. A 99-cent burger bigger than your head? Value. And since companies buy ingredients in bulk and produce in volume, it’s easier to compete on size than on just about any other attribute; regardless of language and culture, everyone understands “Mine’s bigger than yours” or “Ours is smaller, therefore more convenient than theirs.”
And don’t get me started on the multi-billion dollar diet industry. See how quick that Atkins’ craze faded? The Snackwell’s madness lasted longer. (Marketers had the whole country inhaling those puppies by the bagful in the 1990s. People still got fat.) It’s all a hustle, just like the notion that those $2.50 bottled waters actually came from some exotic spring in the French Alps. And while America diets and quick-fixes itself into more obesity and higher hospital bills, guess who’s pocketbooks keep getting fatter?
Doctors say that more often than not when people feel hungry, their body is actually telling them to get water, not food. Unfortunately, water isn’t what the food hustlers want you to buy most. That’s why they’ve made sure some type of food is available everywhere you go: Laundromats. Toy stores. Coffee shops. Gas stations. Clothing stores. Music stores. Bookstores. Schools. Vending machines on every corner. Food is everywhere for a reason. As long as people see food, they’ll think food. The more they think food, the more food they’ll buy. Remember: Out of sight, out of mind; but top of mind, bottom of wallet.
It’s just one more perfectly ethical part of The Hustle.
Been to a Pizza Hut, Applebee’s, Panda Express, or a Chipotle lately? The portions are huge. No matter where you go, today’s “kiddie meal” could’ve stuffed an adult 15 years ago. But now we’ve got burritos big as footballs… Steaks the size of Frisbees… Pasta dishes the size of LP’s… Side dishes as big as entrees… 12 and 16oz drinks have replaced 8 oz as the norm… Pizzas are now as big as rims… It’s outta control.
And what hasn’t gone over-the-top huge has turned “mini-me”: Bite-sized candy bars… mini cookies… mini snack cakes… mini quesadillas and baby eggrolls… mini burgers and baby chicken wings… Traditional sit-down fare is now on-the-go munchables. And since they’re sold in quantity, that bang-for-the-buck angle sucks in cost-conscious consumers looking for savings (Sam’s Club).
Why?
Because marketers have also twisted folks into equating smaller portions with “healthier.” Many health-conscious types roll with a couple small candy bars thinking it’s healthier than eating one big one… Eight nuggets/wings/tenders are healthier than 4 big pieces of chicken and so on. But of course it’s just as bad, only now we’re eating more of ‘em. And don’t think McDonald’s 2004 phase-out of their “super-size” portions won’t wind up making them more money long term. It’s all drug trafficking 101: Hook ‘em with samples; reel ‘em in on the comeback.
Why is size the great American USP? Well it’s hard to compete on taste—everyone’s picky, tastes change, and after a while everything tastes the same anyway. But size? Americans equate size with value. Ten pieces of chicken for 8 bucks is value. A 99-cent burger? Boring. A 99-cent burger bigger than your head? Value. And since companies buy ingredients in bulk and produce in volume, it’s easier to compete on size than on just about any other attribute; regardless of language and culture, everyone understands “Mine’s bigger than yours” or “Ours is smaller, therefore more convenient than theirs.”
And don’t get me started on the multi-billion dollar diet industry. See how quick that Atkins’ craze faded? The Snackwell’s madness lasted longer. (Marketers had the whole country inhaling those puppies by the bagful in the 1990s. People still got fat.) It’s all a hustle, just like the notion that those $2.50 bottled waters actually came from some exotic spring in the French Alps. And while America diets and quick-fixes itself into more obesity and higher hospital bills, guess who’s pocketbooks keep getting fatter?
