The “deceptive package of the year 2023” has been determined: The food company Mondelez has been particularly bold in deceiving consumers with its “TUC Bake Rolls”. But ALDI and Katjes also cheat.
The consumers’ vote is clear: they have chosen “TUC Bake Rolls” as the “Deceptive Pack of the Year 2023”. The Hamburg Consumer Center called for the vote; Over half of the votes went to the Mondelez snack item.
Snack suddenly 127 percent more expensive
The Hamburg consumer advice center says: “Quite rightly.” Finally, Mondelez made the snack more expensive by at least 127 percent as a result of the company’s internal brand change from “7days” to “TUC”. The contents of the packaging then shrank from 250 to 150 grams, but the packaging remained the same size.
At the same time, the selling price rose from 1.39 to 1.89 euros. For some time now, the price at many retailers has even been 1.99 euros, consumer advocates complain. However, the appearance, recipe and nutritional values have practically not changed.
More and more hidden ones Price increases
The experts at the Hamburg Consumer Center speak of a “particularly sophisticated marketing trick” and demand that politicians finally take action to protect consumers from deceptive packaging. Retailers are also required to remove such products from their range.
With 104 products in VZ Hamburg’s deceptive packaging list, the number of hidden price increases will have reached a new high in 2023, it was said. For comparison: in 2022 there were 76, a year earlier there were 47.
Oreo – less ice cream for the same price
In addition to the bread chips, there were four other products to choose from for the “Deceptive Pack of the Year 2023”. Froneri’s “Oreo ice cream stick” came in second with 16.8 percent of the vote. Here the hidden price increase was up to 63 percent: The manufacturer had reduced the number of sticks in the collective pack from four to three and also shrunk the size of the individual ice cream.
In third place was the mouthwash “Listerine Total Care” from Johnson & Johnson with 10.6 percent of the votes, closely followed by the marzipan chocolate “Chocolat Amandes Whole Milk” from ALDI and the fruit gums “Yoghurt-Gums” from Katjes.
Here too, the VZE Hamburg identified clear cases of “shrinkflation”: less content was offered at the same or even higher price. Such an approach is becoming increasingly popular among manufacturers. Customers are at a disadvantage because they often don’t notice the hidden price increases so quickly.