Like so many other people, I’ve been thinking about the problem of things that seem to be shrinking. Like my bank account. And my circle of friends.
It could be worse, of course. I could have invented a machine that accidentally shrunk my kids, like in the 1989 Disney movie.
But it’s still pretty frightening, when we hear about chocolate bars getting shrunk.
Is nothing sacred?
A German court ruled last week that candy manufacturer Mondelēz cheated customers by making their Milka chocolate bar 1mm thinner and 10 grams lighter, while wrapping the bars in the same wrapper.
The case, brought to court by a German consumer protection office, “accused the snacking giant of tricking customers by slashing the weight of the ‘Alpine Milk’ bar from 100g to 90g.” Despite this significant reduction in weight — about 10% — there was no noticeable change in the wrapper.
Same cow. Less chocolate.
Although Milka’s revised chocolate bar was 1mm thinner and contained 10% less chocolate, the price went up from €1.49 ($1.75) to €1.99 ($2.33) at the start of 2025. The change was so egregious that last year, Germans voted the Milka bar “rip-off packaging of the year.”
Technically, the vote was for “Mogelpackung des Jahres 2025”. Given that they were Germans. Actually, that translates more like: “Misleading Packaging of the Year 2025”, but that means essentially the same thing as “rip-off packaging.”
The court apparently agreed with this public verdict, and delivered its own verdict.
The ruling isn’t necessarily final. Mondelēz has one month to file an appeal, and the company said it was “examining the court’s ruling.” As any sensible multi-billion-dollar company would do.
According to a Mondelēz press release, “Our aim has always been, and remains, to communicate transparently, comprehensively, and responsibly with everyone who buys and enjoys our products.” As any sensible multi-billion-dollar company would claim.
This ruling probably won’t effect the numerous companies here in the U.S. that have been reducing the amount of product while often increasing the price. Among the numerous products recently shrunk, according to ConsumerAffairs.com:
Folgers Coffee, Gatorade, Tropicana Orange Juice, Triscuits, Keebler Cookies, Fritos Scoops, Cheetos, Snickers, Cadbury, Tillamook Ice Cream, Breyers Ice Cream, Chobani Greek Yogurt, Ziploc Bags, Clorox Wipes, Downy Fabric Softener, Dove Body Wash, Quaker Instant Oatmeal Packets, Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts, Charmin Toilet Paper, Scott Toilet Paper, Angel Soft Toilet Paper, Kleenex…
That’s just for starters.
I don’t recall any of the above-mentioned shrinkages being publicly announced. Possibly I just wasn’t paying attention? Or maybe our courts system works differently.
Lucky for me, I hardly ever buy any of these products. My diet these days largely consists of beans and rice. Yes, okay… an occasional package of Pop-Tarts. But only on special occasions.
Most of us have felt thankful that beer still comes in 12 oz. cans. But it seems like the alcohol content is slowly shrinking? I used to get a buzz by the second beer. Now it takes nearly a six-pack to get me excited about a baseball game.
But none of these shrinkage problems can hold a candle to our real issue. Which is, a shrinking economy.
The opposite of what we were promised. (As I recall.) America was going to be “great again”. Instead we are “greatly disappointed again.” The packaging looked inviting, but the actual product is 10% less than we thought we were buying.
Like, for example, we were going to get back most of the manufacturing jobs that have disappeared over the past 30 years. Industry was going to make massive investments. The future was bright.
I came across some graphs yesterday in a report by consulting firm Deloitte, the fourth largest privately held company in the U.S.
Manufacturing employment is stumbling. To put it lightly.
Investment in new or expanded manufacturing facilities has fallen off.
Meanwhile, ‘uncertainty’ seems to be increasing among manufacturers. (Also, among the rest of us.) It’s now the top concern among nearly four our of five manufacturers.
But there comes a time when things need to get shrunk. When I was a kid, a telephone weighed about three pounds and sat on a table near the staircase.
Now, everyone carries around a 6 oz. phone.
If phones still weighed three pounds, no one would be carrying them around and social media would be a lot less interesting.
If we could actually shrink people to a tiny size, just think how many people could be fed by a single bowl of breakfast cereal.
Maybe the same thing can happen to our economy? Like, maybe it just got too big, and needs to get shrunk?
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.