The pound's precipitous plunge, post the June 23 referendum on Britain's membership of the EU, has pushed prices of various commodities, such as butter, pork and wheat, ever-upward. Maltesers were one of the first victims of Brexit "shrinkflation" — prior to the plebiscite, bags weighed in as 121 grams, but have since fallen to a paltry 103g. Family packs of Fish Fingers have likewise been culled, from 12 fingers to 10 per box.
Shrinkflation: keeping the price but reducing the size of a product.
— Phrasal Verb Demon (@phrasalverbdmon) April 1, 2017
The latest casualties of shrinkage have seen cuts of varying sizes.
Just came back from Tesco's to buy ice creams. @walls peanut butter Magnum is tiny #shrinkflation 30p more expensive but much smaller pic.twitter.com/xIEcN6298g
— Javier Gomez (@javiermardona) March 31, 2017
A big box of Coco Pops has been cut by 80g to 720g, and its smaller cousin by 40g to 510g.
#Shrinkflation continues: my rolls keep getting lighter and lighter as my Baker has become the master of price engineering. pic.twitter.com/Ls2KXG5Soa
— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) April 1, 2017
The size of a large bag of Doritos has been reduced by 10 percent to 180g, while the company's £1 (US$1,25) "grab bag" is shrinking by nearly 12 percent to 90g.
Peperami has shrunk by 10 percent to 22.5g.
Forget #Marmitegate, it's #maltesersgate as Mars are reducing pack sizes again(!) 121g down to 103g. pic.twitter.com/TtQoHzrtl0
— Steve Dresser (@dresserman) November 17, 2016
The price of pork, the pepperoni snack's primary ingredient, hit a two-year high late in 2016 due to high demand from China, while the fall in the pound has increased the cost of importing it.
PepsiCo and Jack's Links, manufacturers of Doritos and Peperami respectively, both acknowledged fluctuating exchange rates were to blame for their products' size reductions. However, Coco Pops owner Kellogg's attributed the decline to a cut in the amount of sugar in packs by 14 percent — the new, less sweet recipes are alleged to weigh less.
.@DoritosUK Were 200g Now 180g #productshrinkage #shrinkflation #Pepsico pic.twitter.com/3ACXuGsYoN
— Vaz Washes Whiter (@384KingsRd) March 22, 2017
The company added it had done the same with Bran Flakes and Frosties, two of its most popular brands, but in those cases pack weights didn't change.
@dresserman cobra down to 620ml from 660ml. Same price #shrinkflation pic.twitter.com/oSzkFcmQwT
— Ed Kontargyris (@edkontargyris) April 3, 2017
Nonetheless, Lianne van den Bos, Senior Food Analyst at Euromonitor International, is skeptical of the company's claims.
"Many manufacturers will say they are shrinking the size of their products as part of their responsibility to consumers with regards to health. But while this sounds honorable, the bottom line is the main motivation for shrinkflation," she explained.
