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There’s a saying in among advertisers and web developers: you can’t have something that is cheap, good, and fast. You can have a project completed quickly and inexpensively, but it won’t be done well;you can have it done quickly and well, but it won’t be cheap; or you can have something done inexpensively and well, but it won’t be quick. Fast food manufacturers seem to be realizing the same thing–they know their product is fast, but everyone knows it isn’t good. So they’re making it really, really cheap.
At a time when it seems like fast food would be the go-to for cash-strapped folks, Americans are surprisingly moving away from actual fast food. Both profits and popularity have slipped and been unable to recover since the economic downturn, which is making fast food chains nervous. So they’re going straight for the jugular, which is, in this case, the wallet. With extreme deals and ludicrously low prices, fast food manufacturers are attempting to reel consumers back in–particularly young people.
Chains like McDonald’s, Jack-in-the-Box, Burger King, and Wendy’s are trying to tempt customers with rock-bottom prices, as they extend their $1 menus and add more and more extras to their combination meals. And yet, it doesn’t seem to be working yet.
It seems that people in their 20s and early 30s–the ones raised on Super Size Me, Fast Food Nation, and the food pyramid–have begun to stray from fast food, visiting these chains less and less over the last five years.
Which isn’t to say that young people suddenly have more money to throw around. They’re just opting for other methods of convenient, inexpensive eating, like “fast casual” restaurants, such as Chipotle or Panera Bread, which offer less nutrient-deficient options and more sustainable sources.
Presumably, this is because the younger generation, who have been bombarded with both advertising about fast food, as well as messages warning them about the powers of advertising, have been able to continue to make conscientiousness decisions, and are more aware of what is actually healthy, and what’s a bogus health claim. Which could spell disaster for fast food chains who have been slow to offer items that pass the test–making their lowered prices their only recourse (short of, you know, making their food less awful for you).
Fast food restaurants’ attempts to lure consumers in with ultra-low prices, though, may back-fire, as savvy consumers have become more and more aware of the too-good-to-be-true (or rather, too-cheap-to-be-good-for-you). And despite healthy food advocate’s best efforts, many Americans still equate nutrient-dense food with higher price tags.
It seems that perhaps a smarter (and generally less reprehensible) course of action for fast food manufacturers would be to do as “fast casual” chains have done–that is, actually make the food better, if just a bit costlier (really, fast casual is still pretty affordable, even to a freelancer like myself).
Because if you can only have 2 out of 3 components, even in tough times, a lot of people will still choose quick and good, but slightly less cheap.
Image: Kiselev Andrey Valerevich / Shutterstock
