The Disturbing Reality Of Drive-Thrus

Summary

This video delves into the psychology behind fast food drive-throughs and their impact on obesity rates. It explores how these establishments exploit human psychology through 'dark nudging' and behavioral science to encourage impulsive eating. The script discusses the historical evolution of drive-throughs, their optimization to make unhealthy food choices more convenient, and the use of technology like AI to personalize and increase sales. It warns viewers of the manipulative tactics used by the industry and encourages awareness to resist these influences.

Takeaways

• 🍔 The proximity to fast food restaurants, especially those with drive-throughs, increases the likelihood of obesity due to the exploitation of human psychology for convenience.
• 🚗 Drive-through services have become a major part of fast food businesses, with some attributing the rise in obesity rates to their convenience.
• 🧠 Modern drive-throughs employ behavioral science and 'dark nudging' techniques to manipulate customers into consuming more fast food.
• 🏠 Drive-throughs capitalize on the desire for convenience, leveraging our psychological biases towards least resistance and instant gratification.
• 🚦 The design of drive-throughs is carefully planned to reduce friction and increase the ease of ordering, aiming to keep customers in an impulsive mindset.
• 📈 Fast food companies use various strategies like dual lanes and limited menu visibility to create a sense of urgency and promote impulse buying.
• 📊 Novel items and combo meals are effective in driving sales, as they appeal to our novelty bias and default choices, respectively.
• 💡 Digital menu boards at drive-throughs use behavioral science to influence order decisions, such as highlighting profitable items or suggesting add-ons based on weather and time of day.
• 📱 Future advancements in drive-through technology, including AI and data collection from apps, will enable even more personalized and targeted marketing to customers.
• 🌐 The rise of personalized marketing through technology signifies a broader trend where corporations are increasingly using behavioral insights to influence consumer choices.

Q & A

What is the correlation suggested between the number of fast food restaurants on one's commute and obesity rates?

The script suggests that people who pass by more fast food restaurants on their way to work have a higher likelihood of being obese, implying a correlation between exposure to fast food and obesity rates.

How does the drive-through model exploit human psychology according to the transcript?

The drive-through model exploits quirks of human psychology by offering convenience and instant gratification, which are attractive to people's brains that are biased towards the path of least resistance.

What is 'dark nudging' as mentioned in the script, and how does it relate to modern drive-throughs?

Dark nudging is a more aggressive form of influencing behavior that exploits cognitive biases against one's best interests. Modern drive-throughs use dark nudging by employing behavioral science to manipulate customers into eating more fast food.

Why do fast food companies invest in behavioral science and dark nudging?

Fast food companies invest in behavioral science and dark nudging to increase sales by understanding and exploiting how people make decisions, thereby modifying their behavior to benefit the companies.

What is the significance of the drive-through lane for fast food restaurants according to the script?

The drive-through lane is significant for fast food restaurants as 47% of Americans would refuse to use a fast food restaurant without it, indicating that many fast food sales depend on the convenience of drive-throughs.

How did the introduction of drive-throughs affect sales at McDonald's according to the script?

The introduction of drive-throughs at McDonald's boosted sales at that location by a full 40%, and currently, drive-throughs account for over 70% of their total US revenue.

What is the role of convenience in influencing people's decisions to use drive-throughs?

Convenience plays a major role in influencing people's decisions to use drive-throughs, as our brains are biased towards convenient options and the path of least resistance.

How do dual lane drive-throughs potentially manipulate customers, as discussed in the script?

Dual lane drive-throughs may manipulate customers by creating an illusion of convenience and shorter lines, which reduces friction and encourages impulsive decisions to purchase fast food.

What is the purpose of dividing the drive-through into zones, as mentioned in the script?

The purpose of dividing the drive-through into zones is to optimize each zone to influence decision-making, making it easier for customers to proceed from entry to ordering without friction, encouraging impulsive purchases.

How do digital menu boards at drive-throughs leverage choice architecture to increase sales?

Digital menu boards leverage choice architecture by presenting options in a way that influences what customers choose, such as highlighting profitable items or using attractive imagery to draw attention and increase the likelihood of purchases.

What future technologies are being considered for drive-throughs to further personalize the customer experience?

Future technologies for drive-throughs include AI suggestive selling, facial recognition, social listening, and license plate profiling to provide extremely customized food recommendations based on personal data.

Outlines

00:00

🍔 The Rise of Drive-Throughs and Obesity

The paragraph discusses the correlation between the proximity of fast food restaurants, specifically those with drive-through services, and the likelihood of obesity. It attributes the increase in obesity rates to the convenience of drive-throughs, which exploit human psychology. The script introduces the concept of 'dark nudging' used by modern drive-throughs, employing behavioral science to manipulate customers into consuming more fast food. It also touches on the convenience factor, suggesting that people are drawn to the path of least resistance and instant gratification, which drive-throughs exemplify. The paragraph concludes with a teaser for a newsletter by the video's creator, hinting at additional content not available on YouTube.

05:00

🚗 The Psychology and Design of Drive-Throughs

This section delves into the typical drive-through scenario, highlighting how the combination of hunger, tiredness, and stress makes individuals more susceptible to impulsive decisions, which drive-throughs are designed to exploit. The paragraph explains the concept of 'system one' and 'system two' thinking, with the former being impulsive and the latter being rational. It discusses how 58% of visits to drive-throughs are impulsive and how the design of drive-throughs, divided into zones, is intended to maximize this impulsiveness. The paragraph also covers the idea of 'dark nudging', where businesses use psychological tactics to influence behavior against consumers' best interests, and how the drive-through experience is engineered to reduce friction and increase the likelihood of purchase.

10:01

📈 Behavioral Triggers in Fast Food Marketing

The paragraph explores how fast food companies use novelty bias to attract customers through new and exciting menu items, which trigger dopamine release and impulsive behavior. It discusses McDonald's frequent introduction of new McFlurry flavors as a case study. The text also addresses the psychological impact of urgency and default choices, such as the combo meal, which has become the default option in fast food ordering. The paragraph highlights how these small behavioral triggers can significantly influence consumer choices and increase sales.

15:03

💡 Digital Menus and Behavioral Science in Drive-Throughs

This section examines the impact of digital menu boards in drive-throughs, which have been shown to increase sales by leveraging behavioral science concepts like choice architecture. It explains how the arrangement and presentation of menu options can manipulate consumer choices, with a focus on the 'primacy effect' where the first option is more likely to be chosen. The paragraph also discusses the power of imagery in menu items, as demonstrated by Starbucks' investment in visual menu boards, and how this has led to increased sales. The combo meal is revisited as an example of a successful behavioral nudge that has become synonymous with fast food culture.

20:04

📱 AI and Personal Data in Future Drive-Throughs

The final paragraph speculates on the future of drive-throughs with the integration of AI and personal data. It discusses how McDonald's is using AI to suggest add-on items based on historical sales data, weather, and traffic patterns, leading to larger orders. The text also raises concerns about the potential for using technologies like facial recognition and license plate profiling to create highly personalized and targeted marketing, which could exploit consumers' impulsive tendencies. The paragraph concludes with a call to awareness, suggesting that knowledge of these psychological triggers can help consumers make more conscious choices.

Keywords

💡Obesity

Obesity refers to a medical condition where excess body fat accumulates to the extent that it may have a negative effect on health. In the context of the video, it is linked to the frequent exposure to fast food restaurants, suggesting that the convenience of drive-throughs might contribute to obesity rates. The script mentions an alarming trend of rising obesity rates, which it attributes partly to the exploitation of human psychology by drive-through services.

💡Drive-through

A drive-through is a type of service establishment where customers can order food and make transactions without leaving their vehicles. The video emphasizes how drive-throughs have become a significant part of the fast food industry, with 47% of Americans reportedly refusing to use a fast food restaurant without one. The convenience of drive-throughs is portrayed as a key factor in promoting impulsive eating behaviors and potentially contributing to obesity.

💡Convenience

Convenience in this video refers to the ease and speed with which consumers can access goods or services, particularly in the context of drive-throughs. The script argues that the drive-through model capitalizes on the human preference for convenient options, which is deeply ingrained in our brains and can lead to impulsive decisions, such as choosing fast food over healthier alternatives.

💡Behavioral Science

Behavioral science is an interdisciplinary field that studies human behavior and the processes underlying it. The video discusses how modern drive-throughs use insights from behavioral science, including 'dark nudging,' to manipulate customers into making purchases they might not have otherwise. This is exemplified by strategies designed to exploit cognitive biases and prompt impulsive buying.

💡Dark Nudging

Dark nudging, as mentioned in the video, is a more aggressive form of nudging that exploits cognitive biases to influence behavior in a way that may not be in the best interest of the individual. The script describes how fast food companies use dark nudging techniques to encourage consumers to buy more, often leading to unhealthy choices.

💡Primacy Effect

The primacy effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to prefer the first option they are presented with. The video explains how fast food drive-throughs leverage this effect by strategically placing the most profitable items at the top of the menu, thereby increasing the likelihood of these items being chosen.

💡Impulse Buying

Impulse buying is the act of making a purchase on a sudden, spontaneous urge, often influenced by the immediate environment or situation. The video suggests that drive-throughs are designed to trigger impulse buying through various tactics, such as limited visibility of menus until the last moment, which creates a sense of urgency and leads to less thoughtful decision-making.

💡AI Suggestive Selling

AI suggestive selling refers to the use of artificial intelligence to analyze customer data and suggest products or upsells tailored to individual preferences. The video discusses how McDonald's has invested in this technology to dynamically adjust menu suggestions based on factors like weather, time of day, and historical purchase data, aiming to increase sales and encourage larger orders.

💡Personal Data

Personal data encompasses any information that can be used to identify an individual, such as purchase history or location data. The script highlights the role of personal data in enabling highly targeted marketing by fast food companies. By collecting and analyzing this data, companies can create personalized experiences, such as customized menu boards, to entice customers to buy more.

💡Combo Meal

A combo meal is a bundled offering of multiple items, typically a main dish, side, and a drink, at a set price. The video points out that combo meals are a strategic marketing tool used by fast food chains to upsell customers by making the additional items seem like a default or expected part of the purchase, leveraging the default effect to increase sales.

Highlights

People who pass by more fast food restaurants on their way to work have a higher likelihood of being obese.

Drive-throughs exploit quirks of human psychology to increase sales.

Customers are flocking to drive-throughs, contributing to rising obesity rates.

Drive-through service has become a major part of the fast food business model.

Modern drive-throughs use behavioral science and 'dark nudging' to manipulate consumers into eating more fast food.

Drive-throughs are designed to capitalize on the human attraction to convenience and instant gratification.

Fast food restaurants became popular with the rise of car-centric suburban living in America.

Drive-throughs are so convenient that 47% of Americans would not use a fast food restaurant without one.

The power of convenience is a significant factor in the popularity of drive-throughs.

Drive-throughs are designed to appeal to our brain's biases towards easy and convenient options.

Drive-throughs are divided into zones, each optimized to influence decision-making and encourage impulsive behavior.

Dual lane drive-throughs may be a psychological trick to make lines appear shorter and reduce friction.

Fast food companies use signage and novel menu items in the pre-order zone to persuade customers to buy more.

Novelty bias is exploited by fast food chains to grab attention and trigger dopamine responses.

Digital menus in drive-throughs allow for the use of choice architecture to manipulate customer choices.

McDonald's investment in digital signage resulted in a 5% increase in US total sales within the first year.

The primacy effect is used by fast food companies to encourage the purchase of more profitable items.

Starbucks' use of imagery in their drive-through menus led to a significant increase in sales.

AI and technology are being used to suggest add-on items based on historical sales data, weather, and traffic patterns.

Fast food companies are exploring the use of personal data and technology like facial recognition and license plate profiling for personalized marketing.

The future of drive-throughs involves the use of apps to extract and exploit personal data for targeted marketing.

Awareness of psychological triggers can help consumers resist the manipulative tactics used by fast food companies.

Transcripts

- People who pass by more fast food restaurants on the way

to work have a higher likelihood of being obese.

And if this is true, I blame the drive-through

because the drive-through

exploits quirks of human psychology.

- Customers have been flocking

to drive-throughs like never before,

so obesity rates are on the rise.

New research shows drive-through service

has become the meat of the business.

- Sometimes you really don't want to leave your house.

To be able to leave your house

and not get out of the car helps.

- An alarming trend.

- Now, it's not the drive-through's fault

that we all find convenience, the path of least resistance

and instant gratification, so attractive.

But modern drive-throughs are so much more than that.

- [Worker] How may I help you?

- [Kiana] Modern drive-throughs use behavioral science

and something called dark nudging

to manipulate you into eating more fast food.

And when you pair hyper palatable, salty, sugary,

fatty fast food with the insanely convenient drive-through

that's been literally optimized

to make you make bad decisions,

it's truly no wonder that some people just can't resist.

Like, these companies are studying

the way our brains make decisions.

How you choose between saying yes to fast food

or saying no to fast food, and then using this data

to modify our behavior in a way that benefits them.

And if you haven't noticed,

this is happening from every angle these days,

whether it's TikTok or Twitter or food corporations

or your governments, everybody is investing big bucks

into getting you to behave the way they want you to behave.

And with drive-throughs, the manipulation begins

before you even hit the parking lots.

But before we get into it, a message from today's sponsor.

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Thanks for your support, and now, back to the video.

Many people don't realize the extent

to which the drive-through is fast food.

Fast food restaurants didn't take off

until American families started driving everywhere.

And then fast food became this like,

natural extension of the sort of on-the-go lifestyle.

As people spread out from the cities to the suburbs,

everyone coming to a restaurant would be coming in a car.

And so if you're a restaurant,

you needed some way to deal with this.

First came the drive-in.

You know in old movies, those diners with waitresses

on roller skates taking your order from the parking lot?

The drive-in was a whole event, a social meeting place,

a date night, or fun family outing.

But then came the drive-through,

which was kind of the opposite.

No parking, no waiting, no hanging out,

get your food and then get back to

whatever you were in the middle of doing.

Fast forward to today, the drive through is so heavily tied

to the fast food experience that 47% of Americans

would refuse to use a fast food restaurant if it didn't

have a drive through according to a poll

from earlier this year.

Think about that.

That means if the insanely convenient

drive-through lane wasn't an option,

many, if not most fast food sales would never even happen.

And immediately, you can see the power of convenience.

I've talked about this a lot in some

of my other behavioral science videos,

but our brains are extremely biased toward convenience

in the path of least resistance.

Like back in the 1950s when drive-throughs

were originally invented, they were an instant hit.

People immediately flocked to them.

So much though that drive-throughs became this like,

cultural phenomenon at the time.

Like, look at all this stuff

they tried to turn into a drive-through.

The drive-through liquor store,

the drive-through laundromat, dairy store.

These drive-through dairy stores are so convenient,

even I enjoy shopping there.

The drive-through real estate firm.

Okay, and this last one deserves a really close look.

1958 Ford drive-through sale.

Just look at this old map. Look at this, look at the path.

Like this looks like an absolute nightmare.

Drive through today.

Anyway, point being: We love the simple, insanely convenient

joy of not having to get out of our cars to do stuff.

McDonald's website says that they waited until 1975

to open their first drive-through,

but they claim that when they finally did it,

it boosted sales at that location by a full 40%.

And today, McDonald's says that their drive-throughs account

for a whopping 70% or more of their total US revenue.

And if you ask yourself, "Well, why is it

that the drive-through is so insanely popular?"

The answer is the power of convenience.

I've talked about this before on my video about

how convenience ruined breakfast,

but essentially, it's not just that we're lazy,

it's that our brains are wired to value convenient options.

Behavioral science tells us that if you want

to make a behavior happen more often, make it easy.

The more convenient it is for a behavior to occur,

the more likely it is that the behavior will occur.

And the original fast food drive-throughs of the 1950s

kind of just accidentally stumbled upon

this behavioral goldmine.

We didn't realize at the time

that their insane success was largely due to the fact

that drive-throughs were appealing to our brain's biases.

But today's drive-throughs are no accident.

They are actively and intelligently exploiting these biases.

Let's imagine the typical drive-through situation.

You're driving along on your way home from work,

you're hungry, you're tired, you're feeling a little

stressed from the rush hour drive and you're anxious

to finally get home and wind down from a long day.

Unbeknownst to you, at that exact moment,

you are the perfect unsuspecting victim

for the drive-through.

Why?

Because all of these characteristics

are risk factors for impulsive behavior.

The brain makes decisions in basically two different ways.

Either rationally and thoughtfully

or impulsively and mindlessly.

Something called system one and system two thinking.

So when you buy something on impulse, (snaps fingers)

it means that you did so

without any prior plans or intentions to do so.

And importantly, without rationally considering that choice.

All of a sudden, you're overcome with this desire or impulse

to take action, to seize that instant gratification.

And before you know it, you did this

is behaving impulsively.

And if you're thinking, "That's totally me,

I really gotta stop doing that," you are not the only one.

Apparently, 58% of trips to limited service restaurants,

AKA drive-throughs are already impulsive to begin with.

I took this stat from a website called QSR magazine,

which is like basically a magazine written

for fast food franchisees and drive-through operators

and it's full of tips on how to turn your drive-through

into the money-making machine it could be.

Anyway, why is this important?

Well, because when a behavior is impulsive, it's really hard

to control because it's not a conscious rational choice,

it's instead an automatic, mindless reaction

to the environment and you behaving automatically

and mindlessly is the main goal of a dark nudge.

If you've never heard the term dark nudge before,

I should probably explain a regular nudge first.

The definition of a nudge is an indirect means

of influencing behavior toward a desired action.

More specifically, it's about redesigning the environment

in a way that it subtly takes you down a specific path

or guides you to a specific choice.

A dark nudge on the other hand, is more aggressive.

It exploits your cognitive biases in order

to change your behavior against your best interests,

which is exactly what's happening when corporations

are trying to get you hooked on their products

by any means necessary.

Many drive-through restaurants

have been completely redesigned with the goal

of activating your more impulsive side in mind.

I learned from QSR that the drive-through is first

divided into zones and then each zone is optimized

to influence your decision making.

The entry zone is all about making it as easy as possible

for your car to make it from the street

to the drive through, and fast food companies do this

by literally mapping out your parking lot experience

and then placing signage

and arrows at any potential confusion points.

This might seem small, but the point is to remove

any possible friction from your journey

to their cash register because friction

is another behavioral science principle.

And this principle says that any friction at all

will cause less of a behavior to occur on average.

As you get closer to the drive-through window,

you enter the pre-order zone.

These days, a lot of fast food companies

are switching to dual lane drive-throughs

where the one lane is split in two.

But a lot of people online have noticed

that this seems really pointless because ultimately,

there's usually only one person taking orders.

This guy even uploaded a whole aerial shot to show

that the dual lane thing doesn't make any sense.

Now maybe the main purpose of the dual lane drive-through

is just to make sure that the line doesn't end up

creeping out onto the road,

or maybe it's another psychology trick

meant to make the line appear shorter than it really is.

One Psychology Today article even called it

the illusion of convenience.

Fast food lanes are a trap.

"Unless the line is already long and backed up around

the curve, you can't see how many cars are ahead of you.

Then once you've placed your order, you're blocked

from exiting by the vehicles in front of you,

and soon, by those behind you."

A long lineup of cars would instantly reduce

the seductive quality of convenience.

This long lineup is a moment of friction.

It slows you down a little bit and may make you reconsider,

think more about your decision to get fast food,

which means people would be switching from impulse mode

to rational thinking mode.

And remember, the name of the game for fast food companies

is to use the environment

to trigger impulsive decision making.

When QSR magazine asked a Coca-Cola executive

what he recommends on how to sell more product,

he had this to say: "A way is to ensure

that consumers don't do a lot of thinking.

In other words, thinking gets in the way

of their convenience model."

So next time you see a dual lane drive-through,

just know that it's basically just a trick

to lure you further into their zones.

So now that you're fully committed to your decision

to eat fast food, being that you're trapped

by the cars in front of you and behind you,

fast food places utilize the pre-order zone

to persuade you to buy more stuff.

The strategy here is usually

to use their drive-through signage

to alert you to new or novel items.

This is for a few reasons.

First off, novelty is just like convenience.

It's another thing that we're really biased toward.

Novelty bias.

Novelty grabs our attention and gets us excited.

Our brains love new, novel, shiny things.

New, interesting, different options trigger dopamine.

So while you might ignore an advertisement

for a boring hamburger you're already aware the chain sells,

you are much more likely to pay attention

to a new fun item you've never seen there before,

which is certainly why this past year, McDonald's

released a new McFlurry pretty well every other month.

Right now we have the Trick 'N Treat McFlurry.

Before that, the Squishmallows McFlurry,

the Caramel Popcorn McFlurry,

the Strawberry Shortcake McFlurry,

and a Christmas-y Candy Cane Fudge McFlurry.

And of course, novelty is another risk factor

for impulsive behavior.

On top of that, if you're already in line to eat fast food

and if it was a totally impulsive decision

like it is for most people, then you may be in the mood

to quote, unquote "treat yourself," which according

to this Ipsos poll is one of

the major emotional drivers of impulse buys.

So if you're already in the mood to treat yourself

to fast food, you may think, "Well, why not just

throw on a Grimace Shake or a Pumpkin Spice Frosty

or a Double Down Hot Dog," or any of the other insane items

that they add to try and grab your attention.

It seems that these days, fast food companies are coming out

with new, novel items all the time.

And maybe this is a technology thing, but I can't help

but wonder if it's because they've acquired

so much more behavioral science now and they know

that novelty is a powerful driver of our behavior.

Another thing that I think is a purely behavioral trick

in the pre-order zone is the fact

that at some fast food chains, you can now no longer see

the menu until you get right up in front of the menu.

I dunno how many places are doing this.

I personally don't go to a ton of drive-throughs.

I know I probably sound like the ambassador

of drive-throughs in making this video,

but got coffee from a Tim Horton's about a month or so ago.

If you've never heard of Tim Horton's,

it's the most popular coffee chain by far here in Canada.

I personally hate it, I just went 'cause it was like,

the only one around at that time.

For some strange reason, you cannot see their menu

until you get right up in front of it.

And that's when I discovered they're like, anti-glare film

or whatever it was on top of the screen.

And I'm like, okay, another Tim Horton's fail.

Why is it that Starbucks could make a sign

that has no issues like this,

but Tim Horton's has to get the worst one of all time?

But then a few weeks later, I'm researching this video,

I go to McDonald's to get an ice cream cone,

and I noticed that they also have these anti-glare

or whatever film on top so you can't see the sign

until you get right up in front of it.

Now I'd expect something like this from Tim Horton's,

but not from McDonald's.

You know, I'm a McDonald hater just like, out of principle,

but even I recognize that you have to respect what they do

and respect their business to some degree

because they are truly masterful at what they do.

- So like, I go to McDonald's about five times a week.

The people that are running and making decisions

with McDonald's are fucking geniuses.

And I'm not even kidding you, it is insanely good.

It puts everybody else in the fucking dirt.

- Every move they make is calculated

and they're not gonna roll out these signs

unless they're making them money somehow.

So there must be some advantage, but again,

maybe it's not a customer service advantage.

Maybe the reason again, is to increase the likelihood

that you'll behave impulsively.

If it's impossible for you to see the menu board

until you get right up in front of it, then you're forced

to read the menu and make a decision quickly

or else hold up the rest of the line.

Urgency is another behavioral trigger and when things

feel urgent, studies show that you're much more likely

to act out of impulse than think things through.

If you're sitting in line coolly contemplating your options

and thinking through your decision while you're waiting

in line, you're using system two rational thinking.

But when things feel urgent, you make snap judgements

and you're using system one, impulsive thinking,

increasing the likelihood that you'll add more to your cart

or make a more indulgent choice.

Studies have shown that a sense of urgency

undermines self-control.

So by forcing you into making a quick decision,

fast food restaurants may be able to entice you

to grabbing a few extra items.

So don't be afraid to say, "Give me a moment."

All right, finally, you're about

to pull up and place your order.

We've reached the order zone and the menu board itself.

Once upon a time, drive-through menus were just

text lists of food items, but today, many of them have had

a behavioral science makeover in order to get you

to spend more, and therefore, also eat more.

You would think that's just switching from a print menu

to a digital menu wouldn't really be a big deal.

But in 2019, McDonald's invested $6 billion

into digital signage, and within the first year,

they had already reported a 5% increase in US total sales.

Which like, 5% just doesn't sound very impressive,

but a McDonald's 5% is a big number considering

they serve 25 million people every single day.

So what is it about digital menus that's such a money maker?

Well, first, it allows McDonald's total freedom in utilizing

choice architecture, which is a behavioral science concept

that states that the way you present choices to people

influences what they ultimately end up choosing.

It turns out that the decisions that you make are affected

by the arrangement, layout, order, variety, and context

of the way available options are presented to you

and these things can be optimized in order

to manipulate what you ultimately end up choosing.

And a digital menu board is

the literal perfect way to leverage this.

Here's fast food menu trick number one:

Pay attention next time you hit a drive-through

to the very first option on the menu you can see.

It turns out that for whatever reason, our brains

are really biased toward the first option presented to us.

Usually this means the upper left of your viewpoint,

but for the drive-through, it's probably somewhere down here

based on the view from your window.

According to behavioral science,

whatever option is presented first,

we'll be chosen way more often overall to a scary degree.

This is called the primacy effect.

And it's so powerful that multiple studies have shown

that even on election ballots, the first candidate listed

will receive extra votes just for being listed first,

which has actually led to some states requiring

that they make randomization of the ballot people mandatory.

Ballot people, you know what I mean.

But back to fast food venues.

Knowing the primacy effect, fast food companies

can nudge you into purchasing more profitable items

just by showing you them first.

Now the next trick is also crazy simple

but extremely powerful.

Starbucks was lagging behind in

the drive-through department, so they spent

millions of dollars conducting behavioral research

and analyzing their customers, hoping to increase sales.

However many dollars of research later,

the biggest discovery they made was the power of imagery.

Seems obvious, but images sell food products

way better than boring texts on a board ever could.

So Starbucks now uses tempting imagery to draw your eyes

to the most profitable items on their menu.

If it's highlighted with a picture,

you can bet it's making them money.

I did some recon at a local Starbucks

and you can see they have a separate little board

plugging the things that they really want you to see first.

Again, on any fast food menu, pay attention to the items

that are featured with large attractive images.

These pictures aren't just there to look cute, they're there

to nudge you into buying one of these more profitable items.

According to QSR magazine again, these changes resulted

in the drive-through driving more than 50% of net sales

for Starbucks in the last quarter of 2021.

So as you can see, even though all of these

little behavioral hacks and tiny nudges have been tiny,

they are clearly worth the investment for food companies.

I also feel like we can't leave this section without me

mentioning the original fast food menu hack: the combo meal.

Originally invented by Burger Chef in the early '60s,

the first combo meal was called the Triple Threat

and included a burger, fries, and a drink for just 45 cents.

Now, unfortunately for Burger Chef, McDonald's,

Wendy's, Burger King, and the rest of them were able to run

with their idea to the point that even though Burger Chef

is now long gone, the combo meal lives on

and has actually become synonymous with fast food.

When you go to a fast food restaurant these days,

you're probably ordering a combo meal.

And if you're like most people,

you don't even consider doing anything other than that.

By combining these three things, fast food chains have made

the burger-fry-drink grouping the default option.

The upsell is now the main thing that everyone buys

without even considering whether or not they're thirsty

or whether or not they really wanted fries with that.

Defaulting is another bias.

It's one of the most popular behavioral nudges employed

by people and businesses trying to change your behavior.

The default effects states that people tend to opt for

or remain with the default choice

even in the face of better options.

The combo meal is a big example,

but probably the most common one used by businesses

is pre-ticking boxes for you.

They make the opt-in the default knowing

that you're unlikely to opt out.

The way these behavioral science techniques work

is by bypassing your thinking mind

and speaking directly toward the more automatic part

of the brain, meaning that fast food companies

prefer to do their thinking for you, and they do so

by appealing directly to the more

impulsive side of the brain with behavioral science.

The food companies haven't even gotten started yet.

Technology is revolutionizing the way drive-through's

digital menu screens are capable

of influencing your behavior.

In 2019, McDonald's spent more than $300 million buying

a company that specializes in AI suggestive selling

on the order screen at their drive-throughs.

- What is this dynamic menu really gonna offer?

- It's really, I think, a way to try to get you

to buy more food, which is what McDonald's wants to do.

- Currently, this new AI technology has mostly been used

to leverage historical sales data and local weather

and traffic patterns in order to predict and pitch

the add-on items that are most likely to be chosen

at that particular time of day.

For example, the digital menu could quickly switch

to suggesting ice cream or a frosty drink on a hot day,

or warmed baked goods and hot drinks on a cold day.

- They're using tech to kind of customize this

and get you to buy more.

They know so much about who we are, where we are,

especially if you're using the app, so it's really kind of

all about getting you to spend more money.

- And again, seemingly tiny changes like this

are extremely effective at driving sales,

and thus, getting you to tack on an extra 250 calories

and two or three bucks to your order.

It's no surprise that within months, it was reported

that this investment was already generating

larger orders from their customers.

But this is just the beginning of the way AI

and technology are helping to sell us more food.

The next step and the step that many are working on

rolling out according to QSR is leveraging

your private personal data to pitch you

in extremely customized ways.

AI and big data are, quote, "providing opportunities

for the food and beverage industry to influence

customer behavior in ways that are more intelligent,

immersive and engaging than ever before."

This paper, "Use of artificial intelligence to enable

dark nudges by transnational food and beverage companies:

analysis of company documents" claims that according

to internal documents, leading global food

and beverage companies have been using AI

to influence consumer behavior since as early as 2014.

And some of their methods include facial recognition,

social listening, and license plate profiling.

Multiple fast food restaurants are currently trialing

cameras in the lot that will read your license plate

as you pull into the drive-through.

This is called automatic license plate recognition or ALPR.

This technology will allow McDonald's

to serve you totally customized

AI-based food recommendations

based on your license plate number.

They'll be able to use data about your

previous purchase information to help sell you

additional items that you didn't intend on buying.

In the future, the menu you see will be completely unique

to you and your unique preferences

using your previous purchase data and so much more.

Here's how that could go down.

It's 8:23 AM on a Wednesday morning

and you're in the drive through line picking up a coffee

from McDonald's before the workday begins.

"Just a coffee this morning," you think.

But as you wait in line, the digital billboard

beside your window quickly rolls over

to see a sizzling McGriddle value deal.

You normally just order a coffee, but you vaguely recall

ordering a McGriddle and a hash brown on a Wednesday morning

just like this one about a month ago.

Then, it's finally you are turn to pull up an order.

You order your coffee and the voice informs you

that today, there's a value deal just for you.

You can get your coffee free if you purchase

a McGriddle and a hash brown.

At first you decline and continue placing your order,

but McDonald's AI knows that just by asking you

one more time, they're 11% more likely to make the sale.

So the AI prompts you again,

and this time you think, "Ah, what the heck?"

And boom, McDonald's has turned your $1 coffee order into

six bucks and you've just eaten 800 unplanned calories.

Personalizing the menu board is going to allow

fast food companies so much precision and marketing

to people, rather than guessing at the add-ons

that you're most likely to buy like they do now,

fast food companies will be able to use data about you

to pitch things that you specifically

are most likely to buy, making it much, much more likely

that you will increase your order size.

Now, the license plate thing is one way to store

and track your personal data,

but it's really only the tip of the iceberg.

The future of the drive-through is dystopian

if we all don't learn to act less impulsively.

Or swear off drive-throughs, that's an option too.

Because the future of the drive-through

and fast food in general is the apps.

You can tell this by how hard they're working

to get you to download them.

McDonald's has them taking up prime real estate

all over their menus and ad campaigns, which indicates

that the app is extremely valuable to them.

These fast food apps pack a lot into them,

but their main purpose is to find creative ways

of extracting and exploiting your personal data

as well as location.

But I'm not even fully sure what the full potential

of these apps are, but let's just say that the future

for the fast food industry is bright

with this new invasive tool in their arsenal.

The app could literally be its own entire video,

so we'll leave that for another time.

But as we've seen, dark nudges are simple, tiny tweaks

to your environment that alter your behavior

in predictable ways.

And each one of these nudges on their own

are not really a big deal.

Each one of them stands to only

modestly affect your behavior.

Certain nudges are more effective than others

and certain nudges may even backfire

and not work at all on you.

But as you've seen with drive-throughs,

it's a laid out plan.

You're being manipulated before you even hit the lots.

And fast food companies are not the only people

using behavioral science to get you to behave in a way

that undermines your best interests.

We live in unprecedented times where the entire world

and its algorithms are trying to alter your behavior.

Corporations are trying to exploit the mindless,

impulsive parts of us to get us to eat more,

scroll more, and buy more.

And the thing is, over the coming years,

with this technology getting more and more powerful,

if you don't consciously choose your life and your behavior,

it will absolutely be chosen for you.

We're living in a world where corporations

know us better than we know ourselves.

The richest corporations have spent the what,

last 15 years collecting sensitive personal data?

And using this data to learn the ways to alter

our behavior and the way that best benefits them.

But research shows that awareness, just being aware

that there are psychological triggers at play,

can help lessen their pull, so, you're welcome.

And if you're unaware of how the majority of our food supply

is made, you need to watch this video

on ultra processed food.

Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one.

(cheerful music)