German Consumer Group Claims Win Over Mondelez Shrinkflation

Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg (we think that translates to the Consumer Advice Center of Hamburg) says a regional court in Bremen, Germany, has agreed with its argument that Mondelez deceived consumers by reducing the size of its Milka chocolate bars while keeping them in identical packaging, changing only the weight in fine print.

We in the states call it “shrinkflation.”

“For some time now, many bars have weighed only 90 grams instead of 100 grams. But you can't tell from the packaging,” says the center. While acknowledging the verdict is not final, the group claims, “The Regional Court of Bremen follows the argumentation of the consumer advice center and today [May 13] ruled against Mondelez Deutschland GmbH.”

The announcement was a little sketchy, not specifying exactly what the penalty or remedy should be. It appeared to place some responsibility on legislators, who “must create clear rules. On the part of the legislator, binding requirements for shrinking package contents are needed.

“For buyers, the change was therefore hardly recognizable at first glance. In addition, the quantity information on the shelf is often covered by outer cartons,” the announcement said. “Although the new filling quantity is formally correctly indicated on the front of the chocolate bars, in our view the information is lost in the overall picture of the packaging because it is not highlighted.

“Consumers cannot be expected to always meticulously study the entire packaging of products they are familiar with in order to track down hidden price increases by manufacturers.”

We asked Mondelez for comment; we’ll add it if and when we get it.