French Macarons and Google Trends

In another article I have already talked about the importance of the relationship between taste and image. Looking at the social media you have the feeling that the image is prevailing on the taste. Some aspects of the food photos posted on the Internet suggest that the color is taking on greater importance. For example, the color of French Macarons has now reached peak saturation so high as to seem almost plastic objects.

I keep thinking about French Macarons because in reality there are two further aspects to be emphasized. McDonalds has shown great interest in the French Maracons and today in many stores of McDonalds in France you can eat French Macarons. According to Wikipedia the reason is linked to the fact that Hamburgers have the shape of French Macarons.

Again therefore confirms the trend that the appearance and shape are decisive in the choice and development of a product. It would almost seem to understand that McDonalds Consider the Hamburger a logo. Everything that looks like their “logo” can become part of its offer.

Many tourists eat at McDonald’s when they are traveling because in this way they do not have surprises. Tourists eat at McDonald’s because they have clear benchmarks and they know what they will eat. A tourist eating a French Macaron from Mcdonalds is doing partially new experience but also aesthetically compatible with McDonalds. A Hamburger is aesthetically compatible with French Macaron Flavors. The expectation of eating something you already know will not be disappointed by an aesthetic point of view, the shape of what you eat does not change.

In this regard, however, I would like to point out that the trend of the French Macarons for the 2014 is not as exciting as it was previous years. If we look at Google Trends, we can see that the inexorable rise of their popularity has had a major setback in the summer of 2014. Try to understand the causes will certainly not be easy. Surely even in this case we can not deny a correlation with the aesthetics.

French Macarons on Google Trends

I propose two hypotheses that could explain the important slowdown that occurred in the Google search of the term “French Macarons“.
First of all, I believe that more and more saturated colors of the French Macarons have reached the maximum level possible. The exploitation of aesthetic Macarons has reached its peak saturation.

As a second hypothesis, not an alternative to the above, there may be the fact that many people, after seeing thousands of photos of Macarons, have decided to try them. Those who have tasted the French Macarons realized that, despite the aesthetic is fantastic, the colors are bright, the taste is not as amazing.
Probably, during the act of tasting the macarons, people have realized that the aesthetic attraction was excessive in relation to the content. The flavor is that of a sweet. A disappointment that is reflecting in google searches trends. The damage of the distance between image and taste.