consumer voting
Paprika-Balkan-Sauce is the “deceptive package of the year”
The Homann “Paprika Sauce” is the “Sham Pack of the Year”
© Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg
The name Gypsy Sauce has disappeared, but the product relaunch caused trouble. Homann’s “Paprika Sauce” won by a wide margin in the vote for “Sham Pack of the Year”.
Homann’s “Paprika Sauce” has been voted “Deceptive Pack of the Year 2021”. In the online vote by the Hamburg consumer advice center, the ready-made sauce received by far the most votes. There was a total of five products to choose from.
Homann relaunched its earlier gypsy sauces last year. The company not only changed the name and design, but also significantly reduced the filling quantity. Instead of 500 milliliters, there were only 400 milliliters in the jar, while the retail price actually went up. The bottom line is that the consumer advice center calculated a price increase of 88 percent.
In the election of the consumer advice center, the ready-made sauce received around half of the more than 16,000 votes cast (50.6 percent). Homann belongs to the Müller Group, the manufacturer did not want to comment on the choice of deceptive packaging on request. Our photo gallery shows all five deceptive packaging candidates:
Kitkat in 2nd place
Nestlé’s Kitkat bars came in second with 15.4 percent of the vote. The confectionery company had shrunk its multipack from five to four packs, while the retail price mostly remained the same. Nestlé justified the step to the consumer advice center with increased production costs.
The Bahlsen “Perpetum” biscuits, the cream sauce from Knorr and the “Wurzenerwaffelzettel” from Griesson – de Beukelar were roughly tied for the other places in the selection of deceptive packaging. For all candidates, the consumer advice center criticizes the sometimes enormous hidden price increases by reducing the filling quantities.
According to the Hamburg consumer advice center, between 2,000 and 3,000 consumer complaints about products with hidden price increases are received every year. The consumer advocates document these in a constantly expanding list of deceptive packaging. “Politicians have repeatedly promised more clarity in this regard, but have done nothing to stop the trickery,” complains consumer advocate Armin Valet. He also criticizes the fact that the manufacturers’ packaging tricks also cause an unnecessarily large amount of waste.
Once a year, the consumer advice center has five candidates choose the “deceptive package of the year”. Last year Seitenbacher’s fruit muesli won the negative prize, in 2020 it was Mirácoli pasta and in 2019 Lorenz’s crisps.