15 Tricks That Food Marketers Use To Dupe Our Feeble, Hungry Brains
![15 Tricks That Food Marketers Use To Dupe Our Feeble, Hungry Brains](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/4/1/862141_320x180.jpg)
It is strange that the most extraordinary events in our world are not more widely known. We enjoy lists of interesting facts, but we are often frustrated that we do not know as much about the universe as we would like to. If you find yourself thinking ‘I wish I had known that,’ then consider adding a fact from this list to your personal library. If you find it particularly interesting, you might consider sharing it with someone else. Some of the facts are amazing, while others may seem mundane, but all of them have been scientifically verified to be true. Each one of these facts has been backed up by evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, but there is no consensus amongst scientists as to which facts should be accepted as true. However, they are all verifiable and they all have some form of supporting evidence. Some of these facts will be surprising, while others will be familiar and have been repeated so many times that we tend to forget that they are actually strange.
Apps and Kiosks
![Apps and Kiosks CRACKED.COM All those digital kiosks and delivery services aren't just convenience mea- sures that also cut down on payroll overhead. You're actually more likely to order more food if you don't have to look another human in the eye and ask for a double bacon cheeseburger and 20 chicken nuggets and a Satanic mud- slide. The real lesson here is to let go of all your shame. Proudly slurp that natu- ral disaster of a dessert, for your wal- let's sake.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/5/8/862158.jpg)
Music
![Music CRACKED.COM Restaurants can also encourage you to stay or go by adjusting the tempo of the music they play be- cause you'll subconsciously eat at the same pace. You're even more likely to order wine from the mu- sic's country of origin. Does that mean German wine sales go up when people hear Rhythm is a Dancer? We like to think so.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/5/7/862157.jpg)
Lighting
![Lighting People's CRACKED.COM That's the same reason fast food restaurants all live in a fluorescent hellscape. On the other hand, fan- су restaurants keep the lights low so you have to lean in to read the menu, which encourages intimacy with your foodmates and keeps you talking and ordering outra- geously marked up wine.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/5/6/862156.jpg)
Seating
![Seating CRACKED.COM Depending on how quickly they want you to leave, restau- rants adjust the comfort of their seats accordingly, which is why all fast food seats are twisted hunks of plastic deter- mined to make your butt the star of its own Hostel film.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/5/2/862152.jpg)
Decoy Pricing
![Decoy Pricing Low Price $ 1 CRACKED.COM You know how every fast food restaurant offers a large soda for five cents more than a medi- um? That's called decoy pricing, and it gets you to spend more by offering you a product just to make the expensive version look better by comparison.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/5/3/862153.jpg)
Saline Meat
![Saline Meat CRACKED.COM Plants aren't the only things in the grocery store that get an aquatic fluffer. Lots of meat manufacturers inject their products with saline to make them look juicier and weight more.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/5/4/862154.jpg)
Misters
![Misters CRACKED.COM Grocery stores mostly let their produce run through the sprinklers for two rea- sons: so it'll look better and weigh more. Some fruits and vegetables actu- ally degrade faster under too much moisture.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/5/5/862155.jpg)
The Health Halo
![The Health Halo CRACKED.COM If you've noticed that fast food menus tend to feature big photos of salad front and center, it's not (just) because the markup on those is so high. It also makes everything else on the menu seem healthy by association. It's also why grocery stores put their produce sections at the front and packaged food com- panies are vying to get their prod- ucts placed there.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/5/1/862151.jpg)
Menu Psychology
![Menu Psychology КОКТЕЙЛ Нік Клак Cocktail of Pines Профіль / Обемний, складний calan 3 яскравим ароматом ялини та сосни. Ӏнгредіенти Mac копчений післясмак сушеної дикої груші Джин a сушеною S Апельсин CRACKED.COM Menu psychology is a whole field of study that holds the secrets to getting you to order what best suits the restaurants, not your tum. For example, people natural- ly look at the center of a menu first, then the top right, then the top left, so try to head straight to the bottom. That's where they keep the cheap stuff.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/5/0/862150.jpg)
Menu Animation
![Menu Animation GRACKED.COM Companies like McDonald's even use animation specifi- cally to direct your eyes away from the cheaper items, which is how you end up or- dering a $12 burger when you walked in singing a song about nuggies.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/4/9/862149.jpg)
Intentionally Confusing Menus
![Intentionally Confusing Menus NASI LEMAX SIDES DRINKS / - NATIONAL - PARG - - - I - - - No - - - watery I - N - SALADS 40 - Disney . I - I TIGER KERP - - أ I Howker - la stop 4 - - Prime UII - - SWEET (i 8 Roll TAKKING u If Challenges Monte - vecho Mayo K - IF - 10 - - I I - - Spirit Sugar - - - - Vitamin - 8 - - MALI YSAN INSPIRED - STREET-EATS WITH F KIDS - You - - - -](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/4/8/862148.jpg)
Tricks to Make Food Look Good in Pictures
![Tricks to Make Food Look Good in Pictures GRACKED.COM All kinds of things are substitut- ed, like glue for milk or mashed potatoes for ice cream, or add- ed, like Scotchgard on pancakes or soap in carbonated beverag- es, to food to make it look bet- ter on film. It might look tasty, but you'd be in a world of regret if you actually took a bite.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/4/5/862145.jpg)
Meaningless Buzzwords
![Meaningless Buzzwords CRACKED.COM The only legal requirement for calling a food fresh is that it's never been frozen; it doesn't mean it won't have the texture of a limp diaper. Like- wise, you are almost never eat- ing Kobe beef, and the term cage free is an impressive exercise in semantics.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/4/6/862146.jpg)
Colors
![Colors M McDonald's M CRACKED.COM Have you ever noticed that all fast food restaurants have roughly the same color schemes? It's a lot of red and yellow, because yellow is a happy color but red is the col- or of alarms and stop signs and other things that lend a sense of urgency. Basically, they want you desperate to be happy.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/4/4/862144.jpg)
Scent
![Scent CRACKED.COM While most bakeries do their knead- ing and seeding in the hours that shouldn't exist to make sure their goodies are fresh every morning, Panera bread does the opposite to make sure the store smells like fresh bread when you walk in. Cinnabon also places their ovens near the front of their stores to lure you away from smelling all the candles at Bath & Body Works.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/4/7/862147.jpg)