Marketing: It's All Around Us! by Lindsey

Marketing: It's All Around Us! by Lindsey - June 2022 Scholarship Essay

Eating. This act is described as the ingestion of food. Have you ever been to an all you can eat buffet and wasn’t sure when to stop eating? Or maybe on Thanksgiving, you rely on others to stop eating in order for you to stop. We eat mindlessly, paying less attention to our body and more attention to the social cues around us. The question is why. Brian Wansink, author of Mindless Eating talks about why we eat more than we think. This poor habit that consumers have allows corporations and food companies to take advantage of their wallet. They use techniques to get consumers to eat mindlessly and buy more products from them. Marketers use some of the techniques that Wansink discusses in order to attract customers to spend much more money in than you thought you would by getting us to order and eat mindlessly.

A restaurant that definitely gets customers to eat mindless is Nobu which is one of the most high-end sushi restaurant by which Nobu Matsuhisa has created an empire by placing his restaurants is hot spots such as Dallas Texas, Los Angeles, California, New York City, London, Milan, and more. This is the go to place to eat overrated and overpriced raw and undercooked fish; but how does Nobu get all of its customers if their prices do not appeal to the average consumer who is not looking to spend a fortune on one meal. As you walk into nobu, the word “Irasshaimase!” is said to you which roughly translates to welcome. This makes the customer feel like they are a part of the culture that is going on in the restaurant. Marketers will use this to help better the atmosphere. The atmosphere of a restaurant can cause you to overeat if it gets you to stay longer (thus ordering and eating more), or if it gets you to eat faster. (Wansink 65). The atmosphere of a restaurant can get us to stay a little longer thus allowing us to spend more money. Nobu creates an asian inspired fine dining setting. Mindless eating scripts explains how that eating out with friends, the percentage of how much more they have found that people eat is higher than when eating by themselves. Nobu is also involved in the name game. Many celebrities will be photographed coming in or out of Nobu. Whether or not this type of endorsement is purposely set or not, it still gets people talking and into the restaurant to taste it for themselves. Nobu’s serving size is a cue on how much you should be expected to eat at their establishment as they are notoriously known for their small plates, high prices. However, possible customers seeing all these celebrities come out of this restaurant can cause future customers to have very high expectations, this can be bad for the restaurant as bad press can start to surround its name. People have written reviews that the average $135 per person is simply not worth it as the taste does not match the price of the plate. Sushi is said to be a comfort food, however, can you really feel comfortable when you are spending that over $100 just to eat one meal for one person.

Restaurants and fast food chains like Mcdonalds might try and get you to eat mindlessly and buy more products from them by creating mindless margins where they give cues on how to enjoy their meal, by promoting customers to make sure to purchase their fries and a beverage with their sandwich in order to complete their meal. They also work hard to make sure that their atmosphere is family friendly by adding in playgrounds for kids and table booths to fit the whole family. McDonald’s has also engaged in an endorsement with Travis Scott, an internationally known American rapper. This collaboration has brought in many new and returning customers who simply just want to support the rapper. McDonalds marketers will also try to get through the kids by posting tons of advertisements appealing to them in order for them to use the nag factor and get their parents in that fast food chain spending money. Restaurants and fast food chains are using these techniques to get consumers in their establishments and spending money, but now it is time to stop falling into the traps of these techniques and start being careful with how we spend our money.