America…go big or go home. Hence you got ginormous SUVs and trucks, advocated by a French anthropologist who consulted with the auto industry and made millions off the consulting and became an American citizen.
Agree that it might be a hard sell but the logic is there….and I mentioned the French anthropologist because culture is a very hard thing to change, even if there’s many reasons like waste, environment, health, costs. Culture in fact has many people going against self interest and logic. That’s why some political factions focus on culture war in the US, because it’s a proven way to prevent change, and is very difficult to counter. Culture is almost a reflex reaction over time, not a choice.
To change culture, usually some big, massive and historic event has to happen…like a Great Depression, which is one reason why Americans wants more, HUGE and hordes in the first place. Look at how Depression era children shaped post-war America and corporations. Value in America is a big deal after the Depression and after WII industrialists and corporate types went after the issue of not enough while making as much $$$ as possible. On many levels this made sense…fix the problem. How they fixed problem of volume might have caused other problems…like unintended health issues from industrial food. Oops.
In any case, I have a pretty basic solution to the issue, at least in fast food and fast casual - have a standard size and a decent value but DO NOT give a discount for volume, or supersizing. Make the smaller standard size a better deal. Oh right, large corporations and MBAs who bank on margins won’t buy it. Oh well…wait for a historic event that shifts perspective…or another phenomenon.
