Less content, more money: Consumer advocates are looking for the misleading package of the year

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This time the nominees are the yoghurt gums from Katjes, the Tuc Bake Rolls from Mondelez, a marzipan chocolate from Aldi, a mouthwash from Johnson & Johnson and the Oreo ice creams from manufacturer Froneri.

Last year, Katjes reduced the contents of its yoghurt chewing gum bags from 200 grams to 175 grams, but left the price unchanged. This not only leads to a hidden price increase of 14 percent, but also to more packaging waste, the Hamburg consumer center responsible for the study complained on Thursday. That is why Katjes also subjected other products from its range to a “shrinkage treatment”. According to the Consumer Advice Center, Katjes did not respond to the allegations.

In the case of bread chips, consumer advocates pointed out that Mondelez had marketed the product under the new and better-known Tuc brand as part of a corporate takeover. The content was reduced from 250 grams to 150 grams and the price went up – according to the Consumer Advice Center, this amounts to a price increase of 127 percent. The company simply indicated that it wanted to bundle salty snacks under the Tuc brand.

The marzipan chocolate from Aldi’s own brand Moser Roth is also criticized: it gives the impression of a larger bar, but it contains less and the marzipan is spared. According to the Consumer Advice Center, Aldi was referring to “production-related reasons”.

With the mouthwash, the bottle became narrower and contained 100 milliliters less. The price remained the same and at some retailers it even went up. Johnson & Johnson cited higher raw material and production costs as justification.

Finally, when it comes to Oreo ice cream sticks, the manufacturer Froneri has not only reduced the number of ice cream snacks in the package from four to three, but also the size of the individual ice cream from 110 milliliters to 90 milliliters. According to the Consumer Advice Center, this equates to a hidden increase of 63 percent for the same price. Froneri spoke of a “clear trend towards smaller portion sizes” and also referred to higher costs.

You can vote at umfrage.vzhh.de – the survey results will be published on January 23.

(AFP)

Source: Blick