🍟 Why $1 Fries Feel Amazing... but $7 Deodorant Feels Like a Scam

Imagine this: you and I are standing in Target.

We’re standing in the deodorant aisle. You’re staring at a $7 deodorant (trying to decide if aluminum-free perfumed armpit sticks are actually worth it) and I’m standing next to you, casually eating fries I grabbed from McDonald’s five minutes ago.

They cost a dollar, and they’re gone in under three minutes. 😅

I already feel great about my purchase. Meanwhile, you’re still paralyzed by a product that’ll last you three months and prevent you from smelling like existential dread.

This is a great example of how weird pricing is.

Logically, you are making the better investment here, since the item you’re buying will last you much longer than mine ever will. But buying things has nothing to do with logic…

It has everything to do with how your brain frames the purchase.

Today I’m breaking down:

• Why cheap stuff feels amazing

• Why premium stuff sometimes feels sketchy

• And how you can use psychology in your marketing to get people to buy more…faster.

Let’s go.

🍟 The Fry Effect: When Cheap Feels Good

I have met very few humans on this planet who don’t love french fries (raise your hand if that’s you, I’ll send my condolences). And I have never met a human who doesn’t love cheap french fries. $1 fries just hit different, and I’ll tell you why:

It’s science.

To the brain, $1 Fries hold the “golden ratio” of a no-brainer offer.

Here’s how a “golden offer” looks to the brain:

1. Instant Reward, Zero Risk

The first part of the no-brainer offer is simple. Fries are freaking delicious, and they’re basically risk free.

They’re hot, salty, crunchy. You know exactly what you’re getting every time you order them. There’s no way you’d ever experience buyer’s remorse after eating them (unless you get food poisoning, which is rare…so who cares? 😅)

Because of the nature of what fries are (potatoes, deep fat fried in some sort of boiling oil, then served heavily salted in a tiny red container), there’s no internal mental debate. The brain doesn’t have to make a commitment to consuming fries before consuming them…because objectively it already has.

The dopamine hit is immediate, so your brain goes:

2. The Price Matches the Context

The next piece of this offer comes down to context - AKA: the situation you found yourself in while you were purchasing. You expect fries to be cheap, and they were. There’s no emotional mismatch between what you’re buying and what you’re paying, because the story in your head syncs with the number on the receipt.

Your brain relaxes because the context supports the price. There’s no friction.

The dopamine hit is gradually learned over time, so your brain goes:

3. Clear, Tangible Outcome

Fries don’t make you wonder what’s going to happen next because you’ve experienced them so many times, you don’t have to wonder. You know the second they hit your tongue, you’re getting:

• Salt

• Crunch

• Joy

• And (optional) heartburn, if you’re of a certain age…

But that last one doesn’t matter because there’s no ambiguity here. The benefit is immediate, sensory, and satisfying.

That kind of clarity matters because the brain loves certainty. It sees fries and instantly understands:

There’s no wondering if it will “work.” No checking reviews. No wondering what “activated potassium blend” even means. Just good ol’ fashioned value you can taste.

And that’s why $1 fries feel so damn good.

They’re a textbook example of what happens when price, context, and emotion all align. There’s no risk. No second-guessing. No post-purchase doubt. Just crispy, salty confidence.

Makes the brain go, “ahhhh, this is perfect!”.

→→→ (Shameless plug) if you want to learn how to generate “golden offers” that will make the brain go, “ahhhh, this is perfect!” consider joining the Tether Lab. It’s a community for psychology nerds like us who want to learn how to apply psychology to marketing.

🧴 The Deodorant Effect: Why Premium Sometimes Feels Bad

Now let’s talk about that $7 deodorant in your hand, because we’re two humans standing in Target, each having the same environmental experience…but with two totally different outcomes.

I’m licking salt off my fingers. You are internally waging a war with yourself try and decide whether this deodorant will be worth the cost of what it takes to get it.

There’s some science be hind what you’re experiencing, and it’s called: Cognitive Dissonance.

When you pick up a $7 deodorant, your brain doesn’t process it like a hygiene product.
It processes it like a test…a test that will either confirm or deny your belief about all sorts of things (like your ability to make good purchases, your ability to judge a good product, your belief in the deodorant industry, and all sorts of other random things!)

If the mental checklist does not add up to, “YES! Wise decision. I am an excellent human.” then the brain aborts mission, and you’re out of a sale.

You have no idea this is happening inside your head because it’s happening to you…not through you. Your mind is doing these calculations in the background and it’s causing you to hesitate on your purchase before you know it’s happening.

Let’s break this down. Here’s what your brain is calculating:

1. Does this product violate the Category Norm?

You grew up buying deodorant for $3. Maybe $4. It came in a blue or white tube, probably smelled like “arctic glacier” or “powder fresh,” and no one really talked about it (except our parents who always wanted us to wear more of it, for some reason.)

So when you pick up a sleek, matte-packaged $7 version labeled “natural mineral protection” — your brain kind of short-circuits. Not because it’s a bad message, but because it’s unexpected for the product you’re currently holding in your hand.

That surprise messaging activates your brain’s hesitation center.

So your brain goes:

You’re no longer making a purchase at this point, you’re doing emotional math that sort of looks like this:

Internal beliefs + Product + Price = Purchase?

Who knows…?

Sad part is sometimes the brain calculates a big fat NO to that equation which causes us to drop product and skip out.

2. Is the Benefit Visible?

The second thing the brain will do after double checking to see if it aligns with that product is to see if that product will provide up front, instant benefits in exchange for something the brain holds highly valuable (cash, in this case.)

Technically speaking you don’t actually get anything when you buy deodorant. There’s no flavor. No texture. No moment of pure bliss as you stuff your face full of salted carbohydrates. You're paying to prevent a future problem (sweat or smell) that, in your experience, sometimes doesn’t even happen on the daily. Which is not very motivating to a brain that’s wired to “get the ball, get the ball, get the ball!”

This means there’s:

• No instant gratification

• No visible transformation

• No satisfying signal of reward

Unless you’re currently working up a sweat from processing all this intense information, thinking “I need this deodorant right now,” this purchase kind of just feels like buying insurance for your armpits.

And insurance is not motivating.

So your brain goes:

3. Does this Have a Point?

Fries don’t need a story. They’re freaking fries.

But deodorant…a $7 deodorant, no less…well, that price better come with a movie, a montage, or at least some stickers. Because when the benefit is subtle, (like a vague, “don’t smell, sometimes!”) the story has to carry the sale.

Problem is, brands often don’t give us one. They just slap on a list of ingredients and say “clean,” “natural,” “no aluminum,” but that’s not a narrative, that’s a compliance checklist!

So your brain, still unconvinced, quietly places the deodorant back on the shelf like:

And just like that…you put the deodorant back on the shelf, and the sale is gone.

Bummer for the super natural deodorant brand. It wasn’t their fault.

It was just an emotional brain making one of its emotional decisions…like it always does.

So what can you do about this?

🤔 What To Do When Logic Doesn’t Work

The key is remembering: this decision isn't happening logically. It’s happening automatically, in the background, as the brain runs a lightning-fast emotional calculation about price, risk, and reward.

But here’s the good news:

If you sell something that’s…

• Priced above category average

• Preventative or invisible in benefit

• Competing with “cheap” alternatives

…you’re not stuck.

You just need to shift how the price feels, not what it is.

✅ Do This:

• Anchor emotionally — connect your price to identity, experience, or outcome (“smell like you actually have your life together” hits harder than “aluminum-free formula”)

• Create visible cues of value — luxe packaging, bold copy, founder credibility, whatever you gotta do to help people understand there’s hidden value everywhere.

• Change the comparison set — don’t let people compare your $7 deodorant to $3 sticks. Get them to compare it to $80 ruined shirts, first-date awkward hugs, or low-confidence morning meetings (all of which come at a price higher than $7.)

🚫 Don’t Do This:

• Don’t defend the price with logic

• Don’t default to features or ingredient lists

• Don’t assume quality speaks for itself (because it doesn’t.)

🧪 Quick Framework: The 3 Pricing Friction Points

When a price feels off, at least one of these is broken:

1. Category Expectation — “Is this what I thought this should cost?”

2. Perceived Visibility — “Can I see why it costs more?”

3. Emotional Justification — “Does this make me feel something valuable?”

Fix even one of these, and conversion goes up. Fix all three, and you’ve got fries-level pricing skills that no one can take away from you.

TLDR

Fries feel like a reward. Deodorant feels like a risk. If your price doesn’t feel like a win the sale won’t happen. But you can engineer that feeling.

If you’ve read this far, now’s a good time to let you in on something…

This post isn’t just a breakdown of pricing psychology….it’s also a live example of how I teach psychology-based marketing inside my private Skool, the Tether Lab.

You just got the $1 fries version of what we do inside Tether Lab every single day!

Fast. Satisfying. Zero risk. (Might be a little salty, but it’s very worth it.)

Inside the community, I teach the exact storytelling systems you saw here.
The ones that turn confusing messages into clear, emotionally magnetic offers that sell.

So if you’re tired of guessing why things aren’t converting…and if you want to finally connect psychology to actual marketing performance…

Then here’s your upgrade path:

• $197 this week

• 14-day money-back guarantee

• And way more useful than another $7 deodorant

Pull up a chair. We’ve got fries. 🍟 

Until next week…

🦕 Sarah

P.S. Are you worried you won’t have time to use it? Don’t worry. You can binge 3 months of lessons in a weekend.

Think you already “know this stuff”? You probably do, but is it driving results yet?

Not sure it’s worth $197? If one framework helps you stop wasting $1K on broken ads, you’re already ahead.

Worst-case → You join, lurk, learn something smart, and get your money back.
Best-case → You finally feel like your marketing isn’t just clever…it’s scientific.

→ [Join 100+ other Smart Marketers Today!]

🚨 Trend Alert: 3,000% YOY spike – Tiny Stuff is taking up massive space in people’s brains.

The term “tiny stuff” is blowing up on Pinterest right now.
Not “miniatures.” Not “organizing hacks.” Just... tiny stuff.

Here’s what I’m seeing:

📈 The Signal:
Pinterest searches for “tiny stuff” have surged over 3,000% year-over-year, especially among Millennial and Gen Z users. This includes everything from micro toast to dollhouse-sized couches—and yes, some people are making tiny entire homes for their houseplants.

🧠 The Diagnosis:
Tiny stuff is triggering major psychological safety switches.

What consumers are actually saying with this trend:
→ “I want something manageable in a chaotic world.”
→ “This reminds me of being a kid and feeling safe.”
→ “I’m curating joy in miniature doses.”
→ “Small = soothing = shareable.”

This is micro-dopamine therapy disguised as aesthetics and people can’t get enough of it.

📌 Here’s how to capitalize on it:

📦 B2B Brands
Tiny trends = retail catnip. If you manufacture anything physical, offer scaled-down SKUs as trial sets, collectibles, or seasonal novelties. Or just give it away for free and have people record their unboxes!

Bonus: Use this to help your retail partners build low-AOV, high-affinity front table displays for summer traffic.

🎯 DTC Brands
Bundle bite-sized versions of your products and frame them as:
→ “Pocket joy”
→ “Tiny wins”
→ “Smaller, smarter, cuter”
Pair that with UGC that shows the product in palm-of-hand scale or “oddly satisfying” content formats.

🧠 Creative Strategists
Tap into emotional control and childhood recall.
This is ideal territory for campaigns around mental clarity, de-stressing, or joy-per-dollar. Prompt example: “This is what it feels like to hold peace in your hand.”

📸 UGC Creators
Produce a serotonin hit. Try formats like:
→ “POV: You’re stressed, then this tiny thing saves your day.”
→ “Tiny vs. too much” – contrast big-life chaos with mini-object peace
→ “I bought this because my inner child wanted it. No regrets.”

If you want to increase scroll-stops, go smaller. The brain can’t not look at a tiny waffle maker and smile.

And if this whole trend makes you want to live inside a shoebox and call it a retreat…same.

Until next week,
🦖 DEX

P.S. If you want to sell more by saying less, but smarter—join Tether Lab. $197 this week. Because sometimes, small bets create big wins.