Fast Food Restaurants Are Trying To Tell You to Eat More, and Hey, Why Not? I'm Getting Hungry Just Looking At That Sign (Part I - Burgers)

I'm not gonna claim to be an advertising master--although I do have a masters in advertising--but you can trust me when I say that companies are sending many more messages in your direction than you think they are. In fact, a lot of these messages are likely bypassing your conscious mind but still hitting something near the back of your skull (could be the front of your skull, since I'm not sure where the subconscious part is). Let's take a look at some fast food logos today.

You are going to notice a trend very early on. There are a few colors--one in particular--that has been shown to excite humans, which can stimulate the appetite. Obviously, fast food restaurants are in the loop on this one.

I've broken the restaurants into five categories: burgers, mexican/burritos, sandwiches, chicken, and other. I have decided to leave pizza out for now. I'll be tackling burgers today and I'll go down the list over the next week or so.

BURGERS

McDonald's

The classic double arches. Red background (get used to it) with yellow and white print. This is one of the most recognizable logos in the world, and it's likely that it will never change. I must say that I love continuity in logos and colors, and McDonald's has never really changed. It's so iconic that they don't need to. Good for them.

Burger King

BK went with the Pepsi approach on this one: when the top dog in your industry uses red (as Coke did), use blue to stand out BUT keep the red in there as well just to be safe. When this logo replaced the older 80's-ish one (which was more two-dimensional and brown), my first thought was: "That looks like the logo of a futuristic Burger King." So I guess in terms of updating their look, they did a pretty good job. Even though this is not unique, I like that the logo is in the shape of a burger, you know, just in case a hungry illiterate driver is trying to figure out what they serve.

Carl's Jr./Hardees

In case you are wondering, Hardee's is the East-of-the-Mississippi counterpart of Carl's Jr. Apparently, people on the East Coast like to tilt their heads or something, because the Hardee's logo is just a little off kilter. Again, they went with the red and yellow here, no surprise. This logo is too boring though, right? I'm being sarcastic by the way; simplicity can be a VERY good thing in logo design, especially if it's well-defined or well-known . Wait...what's this? CKE Restaurants disagrees with me?Apparently so. This new script lettering, which I must admit gives the logo a classic feel, is the standard CJ's logo now. Oh, and congratulations to the star, who has been promoted to TiltMaster General like his friend from the east.

Wendy's

"Old-fashioned hamburgers", huh...didn't know they had square patties back in the 19th century. Another burger chain, another red and yellow logo. This one is different because it actually features a red-headed girl (whose hair color is stimulating my appetite as we speak/read) and it is kind of an old school man-cowboy-saloon font. If Billy the Kid wanted lunch and was in a food court, he would probably go to Wendy's. I could do the research on how long this particular design has been around...maybe I'll do that in another post. RIP Dave Thomas. Thank you for your value menu.

Jack in the Box

WOW! No yellow! Congratulations to Jack in the Box on having a slightly different color scheme than the rest of the fast food crowd. Too bad they still went with red. I'm not sure how much the Jack logo is worth now compared to the "Jack" character himself. I almost feel that I see his face on a huge window sign before I see the logo. They could effectively replace all their 20-foot-high logo boards with a lifesize Jack doll, and I'm sure that business wouldn't drop off.

Arby's

I know what you are thinking: Arby's is not a burger chain. Well, it's ground beef in your stomach anyway. This logo DOES make me think of cowboys, both because of the hat and the font type. If that's what they were going for, it worked. They need to work on making their food taste better though. My friend Jackie's dad has a cute story about Arby's. I hope to share it with you some day.

Oh, and one point for color creativity--the red is a little darker than in all the other logos.

Sonic

You've got to be kidding me. Red and yellow. Whoop-de-doo. Sonic, you are AMERICA'S Drive-In, not Spain's. Yo quisiera un slushee de fresas. On the plus side, I'm pretty sure that design is meant to mimic the wings of cars from the 5o's, which is a nice touch for a drive-in.

Fatburger

Whenever I see a Fatburger logo, I think of "Good Burger" with Kenan and Kel. I saw that movie with Ron and Jerry Yassa, and needless to say, it was horrible. As for the logo, this is kinda the type that could be used for anything. Think about it: if they replaced "FATBURGER" with "RAMADA INN", you have a pretty servicable logo. That said, could we lay off the red and yellow please? Just for a while?

In-n-Out

Oh In-n-Out...how I love thee. But you had to go with the Red and Yellow. I guess I should just come to the realization that those are effective colors for letting hungry people know that you are a fast food restaurant, and piggy-backing on McDonald's is not a bad strategy. I like that the In-n-Out logo usually points to the restaurant itself--a trait that is not extremely handy on street-front signs, but is pretty awesome on super high billboards in areas where you might not notice the In-n-Out restaurant by itself while driving by.

Whataburger

Whataburger! I love you for your breakfast taquitos, and now I love you for the fact that you do not use red or yellow in your logo. However, if I remember my primary and secondary colors correctly from kindergarten: Red+Yellow=Orange. Great. No but seriously, it's okay here. Maybe it's because I grew up in California and only lived in Texas for a year and a half, but Whataburger signs always stood out to me on the road. That logo is kind of its own thing, which is neat. The winged-W is like inverted double golden arches in the sense that they probably drop the "Whataburger" on a lot of the signage and it still works.

Wienerschnitzel

Right, right: not a burger chain. Sorry, but if it's D-grade meat between two buns, it's in the burger category here. Now normally I would say something like "another fast food joint using Red And Yellow? That's ridiculous!" But Wienerschnitzel shows commitment here and actually paints their employees' houses the same colors:

Pretty incredible.

Krystal

Pretty bland. Krystal just doesn't sound like a place that would make delicious sliders. My brother and his fiance actually thought I was making up a restaurant when I used Krystal during a game of Scattergories. I don't live in the South, and when I saw Krystal signs in Tennessee, I had no clue that they served food. Red And Yellow, though--guess I should have known.

White Castle

White Castle is the only restaurant in this list that I have never eaten at. They did not use red or a color close to it, and I have to say that I am getting pretty hungry just looking at the logo. The 3-D castle and the writing in the middle actually look like a small little burger. Maybe that's the way to go--just make your logo subtly look like a burger.

So in summary:

9 out of 13 places use red and yellow in their logo.

11 out of 13 use red in their logo.

12 out of 13 use mainly warm colors (yellow, red, orange).

FAVORITE (regardless of "Iconicity" or color): Whataburger - It's not going to be confused for any other burger place, and they do have the word "burger" in the logo, in case you are driving across the country through Texas/Oklahoma and have never heard of the place.

LEAST FAVORITE: Krystal - Might as well be a gas station for all I know.

So...the color red. Maybe it's because it catches our attention. Maybe it is because red stimulates our appetites. Or maybe every restaurant decided to go what was already working for the big dogs. That's okay. But my feeling is that if your food is really good, it doesn't matter too much what your logo looks like, as long as it's identifiable by your customers.

Of course, if you are Arby's, I think you definitely need the cowboy hat in there.