Shrinkflation
No before shot as it's been a while since I bought this, but the previous item was in the same can, filled almost to the top, and 500g.
Only 4 nuggets, and holy hell if that ain't a joke for a drink size! BTW, that's supposed to be sweet tea, but it's bitter as hell..
So I've been buying 220g bags of Ruffles potato chips for $4.79 at No Frills (a value-based franchise banner under Loblaws that operates in Ontario). This is one of many products that seems to be towing the line of not going over the $5 threshold. Now the bags of Ruffles sold in the same store are 200g (almost a 10% reduction in volume) for the same price. I suspect the same applies to other Frito-Lay products. (I noticed the Flammin' BBQ flavour of Ruffles was weighing in at 190g.) As we've seen with other products, I think the choice of going to 200g from 220g is an intentional number choice that they believe people are less likely to notice than 199g for example. Shame on Frito-Lay, Shame on Loblaws. I'm in my 30s, and I've never experienced @#%! relentlessly getting incrementally more expensive like things have the last few years. It's wild and it unsettles me, as I know it's just about unchecked greed, and wouldn't bet on it slowing down any time soon.
![](https://lemm.ee/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Flemmy.ca%2Fpictrs%2Fimage%2Fc34e61a6-e7d4-48bc-b21a-93d8be0c48fb.png) Today's culprit is... Jello's Chocolate Pudding! Oh wait, no, "pudding snacks", whatever in the label-regulation-dodging fuck that means. Posting here because this has quickly become a very common shrinkflation tactic where the manufacturer substitutes fructose/sucrose in their main product with the cheaper aspartame and stevia and calls it "healthy". There is no sucrose-only version of this product anymore. However, these shrinkflated products taste bitter, unsweetened and are completely unappetizing to me. So I end up having to look at labels very carefully (usually some thin text at the bottom of the label) to make sure they didn't sneak in some artificial sweetener. The strangest part is I haven't seen or heard of anyone complaining about it, are we in the minority of people for who artificial sweeteners are bitter, like Cilantro that tastes like soap? Both me and my partner find it bitter and unappetizing in any product, but only I have the "cilantro gene". I did find these articles on the topic: https://www.phillymag.com/be-well-philly/2013/08/22/study-fake-sweeteners-taste-disgusting-people/ (the source link is dead, here's a wayback machine link: https://web.archive.org/web/20130826013630/http://www.futurity.org/top-stories/why-fake-sweeteners-can-taste-funky/) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120531102334.htm
They're careful to make sure the bottle still looks the same from the front, but from the side you can see the difference. ![](https://lemm.ee/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Flemmy.ca%2Fpictrs%2Fimage%2F32d443d7-4c13-45d6-915b-dba7b555a1be.jpeg) ![](https://lemm.ee/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Flemmy.ca%2Fpictrs%2Fimage%2Fddde6244-cfb6-42db-827e-1bd5fa6632f8.jpeg)
Little did I know I'd be surprised from how much filler they added to their product. ![](https://lemm.ee/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Flemmy.ca%2Fpictrs%2Fimage%2F8cce358a-064d-4f8f-b5a8-dae660ad2b10.jpeg)
I think they've been like this for a while though. Clearly a way to sneak out 2 cookies without the consumer noticing.
Really pissed off that we are fighting inflation, skimpflation and shrinkflation all at the same time. Buying chocolate granola bars, only to realize after they only "chocolaty" instead really pissed me off!
Article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cereal-packaging-confusion-1.7076730
The packaging is also much flimsier, it's very floppy. The old packaging feels normal. This is the same toothpaste I usually buy, and the new one even claimed to be a "value pack" on the box! As far as I remember, the old pack was just a regular pack. $5.47 CAD for the new pack, price unknown for the old one, purchased around August 2023. One of them is whitening while the other is not, but they are generally the same price and format.