I’ve seen a few articles lately about food companies that are making their products smaller but selling them for the same price, like this post on The Consumerist about the shrinking of Breyers Ice Cream. Then I noticed it at the store tonight – the Edy’s Slow Churned ice cream carton looked just a little shorter (it went from 1-3/4 quarts to 1-1/2 quarts).
With the cost of ingredients and fuel for delivery going up, some companies are giving us less… instead of raising their prices.
Consumerist.com says other shrinking products include Mini BabyBel Cheese discs, some varieties of Yoplait yogurt, and Sun Chips Garden Salsa snacks.
So all this got me thinking – if you get less but pay the same, will you buy it anyway? And if you buy it and you’re getting less, does that mean everyone will eat fewer calories? Or does it make you so angry that you’re getting less that you don’t buy it at all… and hence skip the calories altogether? Could this whole shrinking food thing mean shrinking waistlines? Hmmm…
Me, I’d rather have the products stay the same size and cost more – only because I feel a little tricked by the shrinking packages.
Wow, so I wasn’t imagining things then! I noticed it too!
I think the FDA put a stop to some of this, but I also read companies were changing the portion size(making it smaller) to diminish the calorie, fat content, etc.
This is one of my pet peeves! I first noticed this type of consumer deception a few years ago with boxes of cereal. And look out for this type of trick with other products as well; I’ve seen it done with toiletries such as toilet bowl cleaner.
Whether or not I continue to buy depends upon my actual NEED for the product. For most of the foods I probably do not continue to buy, but for some products that are effective and I really like for doing cleaning, etc., I go ahead and buy them…while muttering curses at the manufacturer under my breath…
I never even noticed…thanks!
I know I will still buy the products, maybe, hopefully I will drop a pound or two… Irritation, well a bit, possibly, if it were my business, I’d most likely do the same thing. Maybe there will be a bit less waste, (trash, and waist)
Yes, I agree that practice is irritating, but as far as the food goes, I think our portions are out of control anyway. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.
Yes, I just heard the other day that Wrigley’s (I think it was) reshaped their gum packs, which hold less sticks than before! I guess I’ll buy the stuff anyway and try not to think about it because it’ll raise my blood pressure!