Fast Food Brand Redesign and Consumer Self-Image
This paper examines the strategic efforts of major fast food chains — McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's — to reposition their brands in response to shifting consumer values, growing health consciousness, and competition from the fast casual market. Drawing on PESTEL analysis, consumer imagery theory, behavioral and cognitive learning theories, and cognitive dissonance, the paper analyzes why and how these companies have overhauled their store interiors, color schemes, menu offerings, and market segmentation strategies. The paper also evaluates the reported success of these redesigns, noting complicating factors such as the global recession, and identifies additional information needed to assess the true impact of the brand transformation efforts.
- Introduction: Brand Identity and Consumer Self-Image: Brand choice tied to consumer self-image and values
- PESTEL Analysis of the Fast Food Industry: External factors driving fast food brand change
- Customer Motivation and Consumer Imagery: Aging consumers and new fast casual competition
- Learning Theories and Attitude Formation: How redesigns reshape consumer learning and attitudes
- Success of the Attempts to Change the Image of Fast Food: Sales data and recession complicate redesign success
- Conclusion: Further data needed to evaluate redesign impact
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What makes this paper effective
- It applies multiple marketing and consumer behavior frameworks — PESTEL, trait theory, psychoanalytic theory, cognitive dissonance, and learning theory — to a single real-world case, demonstrating analytical range.
- It grounds abstract theory in concrete, observable examples, such as McDonald's interior redesigns, Burger King's alcohol sales, and fast food salad nutritional content, making the argument vivid and testable.
- It acknowledges the limits of the evidence by flagging the confounding effect of the global recession on sales figures, showing intellectual honesty and critical thinking.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates multi-framework analysis: rather than applying a single lens, it layers PESTEL, consumer imagery, learning theory, and attitude formation to build a comprehensive explanation of the same phenomenon. This technique is characteristic of strong marketing and consumer behavior writing at the undergraduate level.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a theoretical framing of brand identity and consumer self-image, then moves through a structured PESTEL analysis before shifting to consumer psychology (imagery, motivation, learning, attitude formation). It concludes with an evidence-based evaluation of redesign success and a candid note on what further data would be needed. Each section builds on the previous one, moving from external environment to internal consumer psychology to real-world outcomes.
Introduction: Brand Identity and Consumer Self-Image
The decision to purchase, use, or consume the product of a particular brand is not simply a utilitarian decision that focuses on what goods a consumer wants — it is also a matter of the consumer's self-image. The customer asks himself, perhaps subconsciously, whether he is "the type of person" who eats at McDonald's or uses Bayer aspirin. From there, the customer makes a decision to use, or not use, the product. However, the answers to these questions are less than simple. They are intricately and intrinsically connected to brand image and perception. Consumers are willing to put more money and resources into things that make them feel good about themselves. Companies want to leave their customers feeling good about their purchasing decision, with a raised self-image. Yet what makes a person feel good about herself changes as values and society change. More than in any other industry, this may be true of food — English speakers even have an expression for it: "you are what you eat."
For at least the past several years — since around 2003 — fast food providers have been engaged in a process of trying to change consumer imagery of their brand. These brands — McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's — are attempting to reposition themselves in the consumer's mind as modern, and as such, adapted to the concerns of the times and of their consumers. According to trait theory in marketing, customers prefer brands that match themselves. Their customers have changed their needs and goals, and the brands must reflect this change in thinking and motivation. This paper will first discuss the fast food companies' attempt to change their marketing strategy through the framework of different marketing theories, then discuss how successful these attempts have been, and what other information would be useful in evaluating their success.
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