President Biden denounced Snickers as an example of “shrinkflation” in his State of the Union address last week, but candy bar manufacturers denied they were secretly shrinking the size of their candy bars.
“Snack companies think that if they charge the same price for the same size bag, they won’t notice that there are fewer chips in it,” Biden said in a speech Thursday night.
Biden went on to say, “Even if you’re charged the same amount, you’ll get about 10% fewer Snickers,” Biden said, adding that his administration has “involved price gouging and deceptive pricing on everything from food to health care to housing.” “We are cracking down on companies that do so.”
But Mars, the company that makes the iconic chocolate, caramel and peanut candy bars, debunked the president’s statement.
In a statement to CNN, the company said, “We are not reducing the size of Snickers single sizes or market share in the United States.” I shared the screenshot with X.
“Like many industries, we continue to face high inflation and rising material costs. However, we do everything possible to provide affordable treats and the best value. We are working hard to absorb these additional costs,” the candy giant added.
“Final prices are always at the retailer’s discretion, but we make every effort to minimize costs in order to offer a wide range of delicious products,” Mars said.
CNN contributor Scott Jennings, who shared the statement, captioned the post: The president is literally disparaging candy bars. ”
“Literally defaming everything. A complete hack,” Jennings added of the commander-in-chief.
1 commenter made a joke: “Maybe Mars/Snickers should make a commercial with Hungry Joe. When he takes a bite of a Snickers bar, he simmers and can read a teleprompter without screaming.” ”, referring to Snickers’ iconic catchphrase “you”. Don’t go hungry. ”
But one Reddit user took to the discussion board r/mildlyinfuriating to criticize Mars for reducing candy bars by a staggering 69% over the past 40 years.
“Snickers bars from the 1980s and the sizes of Snickers bars purchased today. Shrinkflation!” A user deleted side-by-side photos of two eras of Snickers.
A Snickers package from the ’80s advertised its size as 170 milligrams, but a modern Snickers bar purchased in 2022 says it weighs only 52.7 milligrams.
The Post has reached out to Mars and the White House for comment.
Mars insists Snickers standards remain unchanged in the face of rising borrowing costs and persistently high inflation, but inflation has fallen to 3.1% from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022 However, it has struggled to bring the rate down to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
Oreo has been accused of one of the biggest scandals ever in shrinkflation across consumer goods, with fans claiming the company skimped on the key cream-to-cookie ratio to save money on prices. accused of raising the
Oreo maker Mondelez has denied cutting back on the amount of cream filling in its popular cookie sandwich, but on a Reddit forum “r/Shrinkflation” Still, he insisted otherwise.
A post by user Blue_Osiris1 pointed out how much the family-sized Double Stuf Oreo packaging has literally shrunk.
According to photos shared on the forum, the old big box of the popular cookie has a net weight of 566 grams, while the new smaller package weighs just 530 grams.
A more recent image posted on the message board shows a box of Nature’s Path Organic Peanut Butter Granola with an unopened cereal bag removed, half-filled with air.
User: “Very disappointing” I have written You’ll end up buying the same amount of air as actual granola.
another user They asked Kraft Heinz to reduce the volume of Rachel’s Choice Dressing from 475 milliliters to 425 milliliters.
