How brain-dead do you have to be to think that medium is going to be small?

@Hank Scorpio: It depends. I absolutely loathe the refried beanpaste crap they use and always order food without it, and I'm a sucker for the mexican pizza. One place ALWAYS puts beans on, and gives me crappitude when I ask for it to be replaced, but there's another TB that's w/in 2 miles of it that never screws up the order and makes the food as good as they possibly can.

7-11 has moved on to the Super Big Gulp at 44 oz, the Double Big Gulp at 64 oz and the Hogshead Big Gulp at 54 gallons.

@RochelleDisco:

...

What?

I rarely get to Burger King but I'll be asking for the smallest size instead of value-size. Or maybe I'll ask for a size 0.

Value - 16 oz = 10 packets of sugar
Small - 22 oz = 14 packets
Medium - 32 oz = 20 packets
Large - 42 oz = 26 packets

I hope. I could, I admit, be wrong, but I don't want to think about that too much.

Ask for this -> Get what used to be this
Large -> King
Medium -> Large
Small -> Medium
Value -> Small

So basically, unless you're paying close attention, you're going to buy something more expensive than you would have normally.

They're playing games, and quite frankly the fact that it'll work is disgusting.

Does B-K really need 4 sizes of drinks?

How about: Kiddie, Small and Regular ?

Rule #3 of retail: Customers are idiots.

of course, not everybody falls for the trick, but as long as it works for the majority, it works.

i actually read about this marketing strategy not too long ago. it's based on a study that found that when people are faced with a series of choices, most choose "medium" or "regular".

by shifting the sizes up, they effectively increase their upsells using mental manipulation. pretty interesting actually.

this isn't anything new. i believe the study was published in the 80's & wendy's was the first restaurant to implement the strategy. it increased their sales significantly, from what i remember.

Whoosh!! (That's the sound of the joke going over your heads!)

Elaine Benes: Can I have a medium diet coke?
Concessionaire: Do you want the medium size or the middle size?
Elaine Benes: What's the difference?
Concessionaire: Well, we have three sizes: medium, large, and jumbo.
Elaine Benes: What happened to the small?
Concessionaire: There is no small. Small's medium.
Elaine Benes: What's medium?
Concessionaire: Medium is large and large is jumbo.
Elaine Benes: Ok. Give me the large.
Concessionaire: That's medium.
Elaine Benes: Right! Can I have a small popcorn?
Concessionaire: There is no small. Child size is small!
Elaine Benes: What's medium?
Concessionaire: Adult.
Elaine Benes: Do adults ever order the child size?
Concessionaire: Not usually.
Elaine Benes: Ok. Give me the adult.
Concessionaire: Do you want butter?
Elaine Benes: Is it real butter?
Concessionaire: It's butter flavored!
Elaine Benes: But what is it made of?
Concessionaire: It's yellow!

Perhaps it's to accomodate the "growing" population:

value = skinny (like starbucks?)
small = fat
medium = obese
large = you broke my wii fit!

@tc4b: SB's always knows what I mean as well.. but I get the snarky "oh you mean a grande" response.. it's hella annoying.. large is universal language.. you wanna say grande to the guy making it? Fine! but leave me out of it.. at least Licks only repeats my order in song to each other and leaves me out of it.

Under-naming the actual size might make Americans feel better about eating too much, but it isn't doing any favors for the country's obesity epidemic.

Also, their coffee sucks and is made from a liquid mix, not grounds.

Lol guess I'm going to have to go to Starbucks and order their Value size then.

@joe18521: The burger king that I entered had a sign above the cash register that explained the change.

the people that complain about this are the same people that made us put a "do not use in the shower" tag on hairdryers. is there no end to the coddling of the american consumer? and then people wonder why the majority of consumers are uneducated and uninformed about their purchases. maybe if people had to rely on themselves to make decisions we'd have never had so many people buying houses they couldn't afford.

All I can say is I'd step up to the counter and order the Teeny-Weeny Wimpy McSippyCup if it meant getting a modestly-sized and -priced drink. Looks like chances of that are slimmer and slimmer.

...or something....

Now if they took the size that was previously medium and was now calling it large and raised the price a few cents in the meantime we would have something to argue about here.

This is much better than nickle and diming customers for every single condiment that they want some of which should come with the meal but they still have the nerve to charge and extra 11 or 30 cents for I am looking at you McDonalds.

Actually I agree with TheBursar. You'd surprised how slow some people can be in realizing this sort of thing. Even if each customer gets tricked once that still adds up pretty handsomely for BK. No-lose situation.

"Do adults ever order the child size?"

Not to mention that when they put a big ass thing of fries on your tray you can easily say "May I please order a small instead and get a refund of the difference? I didn't realize the sizes changed." and they will do it. Just don't touch the tray or the fries first.

I don't think they are trying to be sneaky; I just think (like was suggested above) that they are trying to get rid of the whole negative "super size" stigma.

Heck when eating at the restaurant just ask for the smallest drink available and get up for free refills from the drink machine...

What you urban dwellers don't get free refills because too many people would rip off the place or homeless people would bath in the soda drip pan? I guess we now have another reason of why people in the Southeastern USA are getting obese alot quicker...

Here's wishing a large size hurt on BK for this scam.

Unless there's a long-term strategy here that doesn't rely on people just being too stupid to notice a bigger meal but rather that people would be happy to buy more food if it were socially acceptable to do so.

The only thing I got mad about was the value meal for breakfast - the drink and hash browns was too small

PS The new BK sizes seem to match existing Wendy's sizes. I always order a small there instead of medium.

Few do anymore at least around here. And this is what I really wish they WOULD do because every freaking place names the sizes differently and being able to see the cups solves the problem.

then they changed the sizes (actually increased the size of the cups) and the standard combo meal now had a "small" drink but the size was still the "old" medium.

I used to fall for this "do you want a medium or large?" trick too I wised up.

"Education of the consumer" is not the goal there or at BK extracting as much money as possible from the consumer is their job.
If they did a "re-education" program on their new sizes and prices it would be counter-productive....for them.

Now I'm no fast-food connoisseur (thanks for the spell check FF) but I'm thinking that perhaps they made up the "Value Size" in order to have it better mesh into the dollar menu. (Even though it is more than a dollar which of course is not proper of them!)

As for educating consumers the word "educating" does not fit in well with the fast-food paradigm in general.

Oh wait I forgot... extra large is kin to super size and we wouldn't want fat people suing because they felt that it somehow degraded them when in reality they have done it to themselves.

*TO ALL OVERWEIGHT PEOPLE: The above comment was only directed at those who are obese AND would have the audacity to sue a fast food joint over something as stupid as the name of their enhanced and upgraded sizes. I have no grudge against all those who are overweight just those who are stupid and ignorant... come to think about it anyone of any size who is stupid and ignorant.*

Then again I'm assuming that the majority of consumers actually know how to read a sign. After working years in retail I should know better.

A was at some fast food place years back and I asked for a "small soda"

The counter guy said "We don't have small only medium and large."

Annoyed I said "Wouldn't that then make your medium a small and void the MEDIUM drink - since by definition a medium is just that - a medium between two things?" (or something smart ass like that.)

I don't usually argue about stupid stuff like that but if I was doing the job the medium would just be a small.

I tried to order a venti size fries and the Burger King guy just stared.

Go figure.

I know I consider that whole ordering scheme pretentious I always just say small medium ect.

"What size?"
"Medium"

Next thing I know they charge me like 70 more cents and they give me a drink large enough to put out a 5 alarm fire.

value small medium large and ELEVEN.

@Skybolt: The naming convention is stupid but I imagine Burger King may be trying to shy away from the "super size" stigma.

@flyingphotog: Heh yeah... I found that far more hilarious than I probably should have.

At least they aren't vente fries or whatever those losers at fivebucks call it.

Heh "Frypod." That's clever. I don't eat at BK so I'd never seen that.

It really gives me a case of the "chu rouge" when I order a large fry my wife orders a medium fry and the amount in my large is the same as her medium. Basically I'm paying more for a bigger container not more food.

I do agree though that all the name changing is misleading to those people who aren't paying attention.

BTW henever I order a "large" or "medium" at Starbucks they know which size I mean.

I don't know why this has to be confusing. Just stick with small medium and large across the board.

The renaming bugs me because some people don't like BIG drinks I often order smalls...or should I say mediums?