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Deception by Design: A Temporal Dark Patterns Audit of McDonald's Self-Ordering Kiosk Flow

Aditya Kumar Purohit, Yuwei Liu, Manon Berney, Hendrik Heuer, Adrian Holzer

TL;DR

A structured audit of the McDonald's self-ordering kiosk in Germany using the Temporal Analysis of Dark Patterns (TADP) framework is presented, demonstrating how recurring high-level strategies implemented through meso-level patterns accumulate across the interaction flow and may be amplified by the kiosk's linear task structure and physical context.

Abstract

Self-ordering kiosks (SOKs) are widely deployed in fast food restaurants, transforming food ordering into digitally mediated, self-navigated interactions. While these systems enhance efficiency and average order value, they also create opportunities for manipulative interface design practices known as dark patterns. This paper presents a structured audit of the McDonald's self-ordering kiosk in Germany using the Temporal Analysis of Dark Patterns (TADP) framework. Through a scenario-based walkthrough simulating a time-pressured user, we reconstructed and analyzed 12 interface steps across intra-page, inter-page, and system levels. We identify recurring high-level strategies implemented through meso-level patterns such as adding steps, false hierarchy, bad defaults, hiding information, and pressured selling, and low-level patterns including visual prominence, confirmshaming, scarcity framing, feedforward ambiguity, emotional sensory manipulation, and partitioned pricing. Our findings demonstrate how these patterns accumulate across the interaction flow and may be amplified by the kiosk's linear task structure and physical context. These findings suggest that hybrid physical--digital consumer interfaces warrant closer scrutiny within emerging regulatory discussions on dark patterns.

Deception by Design: A Temporal Dark Patterns Audit of McDonald's Self-Ordering Kiosk Flow

TL;DR

A structured audit of the McDonald's self-ordering kiosk in Germany using the Temporal Analysis of Dark Patterns (TADP) framework is presented, demonstrating how recurring high-level strategies implemented through meso-level patterns accumulate across the interaction flow and may be amplified by the kiosk's linear task structure and physical context.

Abstract

Self-ordering kiosks (SOKs) are widely deployed in fast food restaurants, transforming food ordering into digitally mediated, self-navigated interactions. While these systems enhance efficiency and average order value, they also create opportunities for manipulative interface design practices known as dark patterns. This paper presents a structured audit of the McDonald's self-ordering kiosk in Germany using the Temporal Analysis of Dark Patterns (TADP) framework. Through a scenario-based walkthrough simulating a time-pressured user, we reconstructed and analyzed 12 interface steps across intra-page, inter-page, and system levels. We identify recurring high-level strategies implemented through meso-level patterns such as adding steps, false hierarchy, bad defaults, hiding information, and pressured selling, and low-level patterns including visual prominence, confirmshaming, scarcity framing, feedforward ambiguity, emotional sensory manipulation, and partitioned pricing. Our findings demonstrate how these patterns accumulate across the interaction flow and may be amplified by the kiosk's linear task structure and physical context. These findings suggest that hybrid physical--digital consumer interfaces warrant closer scrutiny within emerging regulatory discussions on dark patterns.
Paper Structure (6 sections, 3 figures)

This paper contains 6 sections, 3 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction and Related Work
  2. Temporal Analysis: McDonald's in Germany
  3. Data Collection and Reconstruction
  4. Scenario Operationalization: Simulating a Hurried User
  5. Analytical Procedure
  6. Conclusion and Future Work

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: Intra-page analysis. Across screens A–D of the kiosk flow, annotations highlight social engineering, interface interference, sneaking, and obstruction within early product selection and meal upsell stages.
  • Figure 2: Continued intra-page layering of dark patterns across Screens E–H during meal configuration and cross-sell. Patterns include bad defaults, choice overload, partitioned pricing, pressured selling, and adding steps
  • Figure 3: Late-stage dark patterns across Screens I–L, including upsell modals, cancellation prompts, and donation requests. Obstruction, confirmshaming, visual prominence, and scarcity cues increase reversal costs.