Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich
https://www.esquireme.com/content/40421-the-65-million-popeyes-chicken-sandwich-craze-continued
This informative article discusses one of the many crazes that are happening right now: the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich. For about four dollars, you get a typical chicken sandwich with a Popeyes twist to it. The craze started off during the summer, where people were lining up at Popeyes chains in order to get their hands on what seems like a typical chicken sandwich. Lines for the sandwich, according to the article, went around the block as the sandwiches quickly sold out. Many people went to social media in order to show off their purchases, compared the sandwich to other chicken sandwiches, particularly Chick-fil-A, and made memes about it. A big aspect that contributed to the craze was the fact that this sandwich was only available for a limited time; the sandwich was discontinued at the end of the summer, but it has returned recently.
This Popeyes Chicken Sandwich craze can be explained through the idea of the network effect. By definition, the network effect is the idea the value of a good is dependent on the amount of people using it. In this sandwich craze, we can see that the chicken sandwich is valued highly, even though the actual monetary value of the sandwich is not that high. Consumers are driven by information-based reasons to hop on the line to purchase their sandwich. When they see videos and reviews all over social media about this sandwich, they wonder if this information is true or not, causing them to go and try it themselves. Additionally, for the consumers that had the sandwich already, they might be influenced by direct-benefit reasons to get on the line again and purchase more sandwiches. They probably had a really good experience with the sandwich and thought that it was delicious, causing them to go back and purchase more.