It’s been happening for years!
I read an outrageous news piece the other day.
McVities are removing 3 digestives from their standard packets so they don’t need to raise the price. Penguin and Club multipacks are also shrinking from 8 to 7 bars. ?
This is apparently due to Shrinkflation, a term that describes reducing the size or quantity so the price remains the same.
This affects food items the most, with snacks and chocolate reducing in size. There was an outcry last year when Mondelez, the parent company of Cadburys announced the reduction of Dairy Milk from 200g to 180g. ?
Despite claims that Shrinkflation is due to inflation being at its highest for decades and energy prices skyrocketing, this has been happening to some of our favourite guilty pleasures for years.
As long ago as 2010, Toblerone bars were reduced by 30g to 170g and Tetley reduced their boxes of teabags from 100 to 88.
Since then, products such as Twix, Magnum, Pot Noodle and McCoy’s crisps have had the chop.
I remember changes in packet sizes I’ve bought over the years, so I’m not sure why there is so much hype now. Maybe the current financial crisis has meant more people have realised this is happening.
However, one worrying trend with this is as well as reducing the sizes of the packet, some producers are changing the recipe of some of our favourites as well. Mini Cheddars have shrunk from 25g to 23g in their bitesize versions and from 50g to 45g in their standard bags. But the amount of dried cheddar in the recipe has also reduced, from 12% to 10%. So not only are they more expensive, they don’t taste as nice!
One solution, according to William Sitwell writing in The Telegraph, is for us all to stop buying them. It will save us money and be good for our waistlines! I think there is some merit in his argument. ?
It seems even our pets will be affected. Pouches of Whiskas have shrunk from 100g to 85g!