"And if you don't get hit with higher prices, you might still wind up paying more due to shrinkflation, a tactic where companies quietly reduce the weight of a product, but not the price. The changes might be difficult for shoppers to detect, because this year's variety packs contain the same number of candy bars as they did in 2024. Both U.S.-based companies said their products may change due to changing customer preferences. Neither provided specific examples."
""Companies are always looking for tricks and ways to maintain their profitability while not necessarily changing or increasing the final price consumer sees," said Jordan LeBel, a food marketing professor at Concordia University in Montreal. But as Canadians struggle with rising grocery prices, there are growing calls for food producers to be upfront about downsizing goods. It's not really transparent, said Sylvie De Bellefeuille, a lawyer with the consumer advocacy group Option Consommateurs."
Cocoa prices have surged, more than doubling over the past couple of years. Online ads for October 2024 show Mars Inc. and the Hershey Company reduced the weight of several Halloween chocolate bar variety packs by as much as almost 17 per cent. The variety packs contain the same number of candy bars as in 2024, making the reductions hard for shoppers to detect. Both companies said products may change due to changing customer preferences and provided no specific examples. Consumers and advocates call for greater transparency and clearer labeling of weight changes.
Read at www.cbc.ca
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