Customers don’t like price increases, so many manufacturers prefer to save on the content. It comes down to the same thing, but it’s not as obvious. The Hamburg consumer advice center takes a close look and regularly chooses the “deceptive package of the month”. From consumer complaints about hidden price increases, she selects the most brazen ones.
The criticism from consumer advocates is not usually that something is becoming more expensive at all. It’s that the manufacturers don’t communicate this honestly and hide the fact that customers are getting less for their money through clever design of the packaging and prices. Since inflation has picked up, the consumer advice center has recorded significantly more such deceptive packages.
Illustrious series of deceptive packages
The Hamburg consumer advice center has already denounced many well-known manufacturers as deceptive packaging of the month. The chocolate Santa Claus and the smiling bunny from Milka were among them, as well as the pasta sauce Miracoli or muesli from Dr. Oetker. Milka manufacturer Mondelez also criticized consumer advocates for moving away from the 100 gram standard size to 93, 87 or 81 gram bars and shrinking some 300 gram bulk packs to 270 or 280 grams.
Once a year, the consumer center has five candidates vote on the deceptive package of the year. For the year 2022, Rama spread fat was awarded the negative prize. Our photo series shows other deceptive packages from the past few months.
++Here you will find deceptive packs from the industry that are still on the supermarket shelves++