Ever wondered why Burger King's logo looks the way it does, or how the fast-food giant
keeps you coming back for more again and again?
You'll have to watch until the end to find out all of the tricks Burger King uses that
you fall for every single time.
In 2021 Burger King revamped its image for the first time in 20 years.
They did this by tapping into a more retro look with a simplified logo, curvaceous font
style, and bold color scheme.
The new imagery calls to mind the fun-loving times of decades past, more similar to the
groovy and vibrant style that was widely fashionable during the 1960s and 70s.
In fact, Burger King had already used this retro logo from 1969 to the early 1990s.
Nostalgia is such an effective gimmick that the fast-food giant keeps cashing in on the
same marketing strategy.
According to Psychology Today, numerous studies show that feelings of nostalgia tend to spark
overwhelmingly positive emotions.
We often lean into the past when the present is filled with hardships.
Catering to society's tendency for nostalgia can have a comforting effect on a company's
customer base.
"Hold the pickles!
Hold the lettuce!
Special orders!
Don't upset us!
All we ask is that you let us serve it your way!"
So it makes sense for Burger King to turn back time with its design.
Not to mention that the warm and fuzzies can make us spend more, according to a 2014 study
published in the Journal of Consumer Research.
Onion rings are glorious when they're done right.
There's nothing like munching through the crunchy seasoned shell to the tender slice
of onion that melts in your mouth.
Each bite alternating between crispy and succulent, the taste gracefully turning from salty to
slightly sweet.
Plus, they usually come with a tangy dipping sauce that only serves to enhance the experience
even further.
When you look at a picture of Burger King's onion rings on the menu, they look well-seasoned
and perfectly elliptical.
But when they arrive, you bite into bland mush.
Why?
It turns out that Burger King doesn't put whole onion slices in their onion rings.
Per the ingredient list, it appears that a breaded ring is formed around a dehydrated
onion paste, resulting in almost zero texture.
Yet the picture looks so promising that it keeps calling you back for more, in the hopes
that maybe this time, they'll be everything you've been hoping for.
When Burger King recently overhauled its color scheme, it ditched the blue and focused instead
on a red and yellow logo and website design.
According to Insider, yellow creates a sense of comfort and red stimulates the appetite.
"Cut."
When combined, marketing experts refer to this as the "ketchup and mustard theory."
Registered dietitian Kari Hartel explained just why these colors were used so prominently
for marketing restaurants.
"Red activates your appetite so much that it's often used in restaurant logos, on menus,
and on tablecloths and napkins."
Hartel then elaborated on why experts believe the color yellow is so effective at stimulating
your appetite.
"The color yellow has also been found to stimulate your appetite because yellow is associated
with happiness.
Your brain actually secretes more serotonin, a feel-good hormone, when you see yellow."
So when you look at the warm glow radiating from Burger King's color scheme and you are
suddenly overcome by a sense of joy and a hankering for a cheeseburger, there's a good
chance it has something to do with the spectrum of color your eyeballs are soaking up.
If you've noticed more kiosks at fast-food restaurants, you're not alone.
Business Insider has referred to this development as the "kiosk craze."
Serving as a sign of the times and a dramatic shift towards automation, changing the fast-food
industry as we know it.
In an increasingly digitized world, more people are preferring to order their food through
a kiosk rather than interacting with other human beings.
Deepthi Prakash, global director of product and marketing at TBWA Worldwide, tells The
Wall Street Journal that customers tend to feel less judged for what they're ordering
through a kiosk, thus ordering more food on average.
So if you find yourself surprised by a bigger bill when you're done ordering at a Burger
King kiosk, it's probably because you feel a lot more comfortable being extra indulgent
when you aren't under the watchful eyes of another human being.
Hope Neiman, chief marketing officer at Tillster, told Forbes why digital kiosks are able to
get customers to spend more while ordering.
"With kiosks, we are able to be smart about what menu items to showcase, which makes it
easier to upsell or cross-sell.
[...] you're not just growing your top line, but also your bottom line and that's where
this technology thrives."
There is nothing more valuable than customer loyalty when it comes to business, so most
companies try to find ways to keep you coming back.
In late 2021, Burger King rolled out a new loyalty program dubbed Royal Perks at most
of its locations.
The program gives customers points in the form of "crowns" to redeem on future purchases.
For every dollar spent on the Burger King mobile app or website, customers receive 10
crowns in addition to daily perks like free upsizes.
Whitney Gretz, VP of digital and loyalty at Burger King, explains to QSR that increased
digital engagement from customers means that Burger King can obtain their data and use
it to target them with more personalized ads.
In other words, the more money you spend through Burger King's loyalty program, the more your
data will be shared.
Which makes it easier for the chain to find better ways to lure you into spending even
more money at its restaurants.
You've probably noticed that the prices for just about everything being sold often end
in 95 or 99 cents.
Even though an extra few pennies doesn't really add up to any significant savings, the fact
that the leftmost digit is still less than the next dollar amount has an enormous impact
on your financial decision-making.
According to Psychology Today, This is what's known as "the left-digit effect," a psychological
phenomenon that warps our perception of product prices.
Because we read from left to right, using a slightly smaller number first in the sequence
tricks us into thinking we're getting a good deal, even if it's only a small difference
in price.
How important is an extra cent to you?
Is there a single valuable item you can buy in today's world for a penny?
Yet, a 2009 study in the Journal of Consumer Research consistently demonstrates that this
marketing scheme has enough power to manipulate your spending behavior.
When you think you're getting a much better deal than you really are, you're more likely
to mindlessly splurge on a bacon cheeseburger.
Burger King surve knows how to cash in on mocking McDonald's.
In an open jab at Ronald McDonald, Burger King offered free Whoppers to anyone dressed
up like a creepy clown at select locations on Halloween in 2017.
Even though McDonald's sacked Ronald due to society's growing disenchantment with clowns,
Burger King's eerie campaigns are clearly forms of psychological warfare to keep McDonald's
imagery tethered to the creepy jester that it's so desperately trying to break away from.
"I want my Whopper."
Mocking McDonald's may create amusing publicity stunts and reward Burger King with extra press
coverage, but it effectively distracts consumers from the fact that the food is nearly identical
in every way.
Both menus mostly=- consist of ultra-thin beef patties, fried potato sticks drenched
in salt, and carbonated sugar water.
In fact, some of the main menu items are only 1 or 2 calories away from each other.
While you're laughing and giving points to Burger King for a sick burn, you're probably
not focused on the fact its food isn't any better for you than McDonald's.
Finding a highly accurate calorie count that's truly reflective of your meal at Burger King
can prove quite difficult.
Looking at Burger King's online menu, what stands out most are the deliciously vibrant
images of their food.
Under the pictures in a large bold font, is the name of the menu item.
In a slightly smaller font just under the name comes the price tag.
Finally, in the smallest size and in a shade of color so pale that it practically blends
in with the background, is the calorie count.
If your vision is even just slightly less than stellar, you could easily miss it.
This same tactic is also deployed on drive-thru menus.
Beyond the visuals, the nutritional value listed tends to be for the entreé only — not
the combo.
If you decide to order a medium combo with a drink and a side, that number could easily double.
To further complicate matters, the calorie counts advertised at some restaurants aren't
always accurate.
The New York Times reported that researchers have detected alarming disparities at restaurants
across the country between the calories advertised and actual test results.
And it doesn't help that the FDA allows for a 20% margin variation.
Burger King is in the business of instant gratification thanks to thousands of locations
worldwide and minimal drive-thru wait times.
This means that Burger King is uniquely poised to take your order, prepare your meal, and
launch its fat-laden food into your mouth in about the same amount of time as the average
phone call.
Brian Solis, a digital anthropologist who studies technology and its impact on society,
writes in Forbes that instant gratification actually increases impatience.
And what do increasingly impatient people crave?
Instant gratification.
The process triggers an endless loop that feeds itself, and Burger King is without a
doubt a significant part of that system as one of the biggest fast-food chains in the world.
To make matters worse, because fast food stimulates the reward system in your brain, there's also
an insidiously addictive component to this process.
Disturbingly, these effects can still manifest themselves even if you aren't eating, according
to a study published in Psychological Science in 2010.
When you find yourself feeling extra annoyed as you wait, it's probably because companies
like Burger King are happily enabling some of your worst traits.
The more money you dish out, the faster the chain can sharpen its ability to serve you.
And the more impatient you become, the more likely you are to seek even more instant gratification.
Most likely in the form of a Whopper.
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