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Granted that this is basically my opinion, I am almost positive that many people that want a drink just say yes to that question because they know that they do want a drink. While I'm sure many of these people would be fine with a small drink, they get a medium because they are almost rushed into a decision.Conversely, Panda Express may actually lose money in the cases where the customer may have gotten a large drink, but just said yes to the medium. Nevertheless, I think the money that they gain from the customers who may have gotten small drinks would be much larger than the money they lose from the customers who may have gotten large drinks.
Although, in the eyes of the Panda Express employees, this is just a business strategy, it is without a doubt an example of rhetoric in our daily lives. They attempt to persuade every single customer every single day to get a medium sized drink. And not just any drink; a Pepsi. The reason I think that they say Pepsi rather just "Medium drink?" is because then people would be forced to decide which drink they want thereby taking away the feeling of being rushed to make a decision. By saying a specific drink, they go one step further in already making the decision for you. Pepsi is also the third most popular soda in the US behind Coke and Diet Coke respectively (MSNBC) , making the reason they say Pepsi quite obvious. All in all, I just found it very interesting that rhetoric presents itself even in the places we might least expect it. It would be fascinating to know if anyone else can think of an instance in which such subtle rhetoric can be very effective.
As someone who works the register, I can attest to the fact that when it's busy a worker will say pretty much anything to make the line go quicker. When it gets busy you don't feel like you have the time to allow customers to take their time deliberating over everything. At the same time, as a customer, I share your frustration with having my choice taken away. Whenever that happens I tend to just interrupt the worker and correct them because otherwise they'll just keep going. On a side note, the reason they ask if you want a Pepsi instead of Coke is because of a distribution deal PSU has with the Pepsi Corporation. Nowhere on campus is allowed to sell Coke products, which is why you have to go off campus to find them.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you on the fact that pushing medium drinks is more effective than offering small, medium, or large. Everyone wants a drink when they eat, but no one wants to pay for it. Like you said, for the people who were going to get a small, may consider the medium to be faster to get in the whole process for just a quarter more. Students are always on the run and forcing drinks without a doubt makes the process a bit faster. It is in fact much more efficient to have more customers buying drinks instead of some buying small drinks and some buying large drinks.
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