Are we getting a lot less bang for our buck?

HAVE you noticed everything is smaller than before? But costs the same? From chips to chocolate to body sprays, we’re getting a lot less than we used to.

IT’S the great Australian shrinkage mystery.

You pick up something off a supermarket shelf and you swear it’s not exactly how you remembered it. But you brush it off; you’re probably being paranoid, right? Wrong.

Brands have a history of shrinking the sizes of their products and hope you don’t notice. Most of the time, the price stays the same and you’re left with a lot less for the same money. Sometimes, the price stays the same because the retailer has decided to not pass on any savings from the wholesale price, but sometimes, the manufacturer is just still charging the same for less.

Deakin University lecturer in marketing, Michael Callaghan, told news.com.au that a consumer’s most sensitive indicator is price. He said: “You’ll notice if the price goes up, but you may not notice the difference in size. Generally, the cause of reduced sizing is most likely because reducing the pack size means they can keep the price the same so it can appear more competitive.”

Mr Callaghan said changes in the manufacturing or distribution process could also lead to a size change.

“Whether all of that is fair or not, and consumers would see it as unfair, the reality of is all these companies are here to make money,” he added.

But he warned that companies that do this need to be careful about how they do it because consumers are aware and a wrong move could put them off-side.

Here are a selection of products which customers have definitely noticed:

VEGEMITE

Does 20 gram less make us less happy little Vegemites?

The Australian icon (despite being owned by the Americans) is stocked in pantries all over the country. But your pantry shelves may have been under less pressure as several canny people have pointed out that the medium Vegemite jar is a little less medium-y.

The former 400 gram Vegemite jar is now 5 per cent smaller at 380 grams.

Mondelez, which owns Vegemite, told news.com.au the reduction was driven by “commercial pressures”. A spokeswoman said: “By making this small change, it means we can continue to locally manufacture the same high quality product Australians have enjoyed since 1923 in Port Melbourne.”

BODY SPRAY

We’re not sure the Spice Girls would’ve developed their own scent for Impulse if they knew it’s now only 57ml.

Now, if you’re someone over the age of 16 and still using Impulse Body Spray, there’s probably another conversation we need to be having.

With that out of the way, Impulse recently underwent a rebranding exercise which saw the brand debut new packaging, revamped scents and significantly less volume in its cans. Impulse cans are now much less light at 57ml whereas it was previously 75ml, which is a quarter less than it was before.

Unilever, which owns Impulse, issued this statement to news.com.au: “We recently made a number of improvements to Impulse fragrances following consumer feedback. The pack size was reduced so it would more easily fit in handbags, and we made some changes to formulations — in some cases we premiumised the ingredients used, in others we strengthened the fragrance, creating a better fragrance experience for Impulse users.”

Unilever also confirmed there was no price reduction, you know, because of the “premiumisation”.

PET FOOD

You’ll need a more Whiskas pouches to fill in this cat bowl.

Many news.com.au readers pointed out Whiskas cat food, owned by Mars Petcare, had reduced its pouches from 100 grams to 85 grams.

A spokeswoman told news.com.au the size reduction was done to deliver a uniform size across its whole range and to address the issue of overfeeding. Apparently, some pouches were already 85 grams while others weren’t, and the inconsistency was causing confusion.

She said: “The new pouch size continues to contain complete and balanced food for cats. The price per pouch has reduced and each product within the Whiskas pouch range has a new recommended retail price. However, please note that Mars Petcare can only recommend a new retail price, and it is the jurisdiction of the retailer to set final prices in store.”

In other words, if your cat food is smaller but still the same price, you know which supermarkets to blame.

CHOCOLATE

Not what it used to be.

You’re definitely getting less chocolate for your money. A standard Snickers chocolate bar is now 50 grams, down from 60 grams previously.

And Cadbury made a big song and dance about increasing its standard Dairy Milk blocks last year from 200 grams to 220 grams. But the ‘new’, bigger size was actually still smaller than the 250 gram blocks it used to be before that size was reduced in 2009. In 2009, Cadbury also controversially replaced cocoa butter with palm oil but that decision was reversed after considerable backlash.

But in chocolate manufacturers’ defence, cocoa is a commodity on the global market and the price of the raw material is subject to market fluctuations. So depending on worldwide availability, cocoa prices are sometimes more expensive.

CHIPS

A little less Red Rock Deli chips than it used to be.

Consumers have complained over and over again that a bag of chips is just mostly air with a few chips thrown in. Chips, in theory, aren’t sold on size. Rather, they’re priced by weight.

But the packets have gotten lighter. Smith’s “standardised” their chip packets so the large share bags are now 175 grams, down from 200 grams. Meanwhile, Red Rock Deli chips recently underwent a rebrand, complete with new flavours and, you guessed it, lighter packaging. Red Rock, which is owned by PepsiCo (they also owns Smiths), is now 165 grams per pack, down from 185 grams.

A Red Rock Deli spokeswoman told news.com.au: “Like all food manufacturing businesses, we are experiencing increases in input costs and as a consequence we took the decision to reduce pack volume rather than raise the price.”

BIG MAC

Does that Big Mac look big to you?

The Big Mac is the one example that gets trotted every time there’s a conversation about how much smaller everything is.

Everyone says they remember a time when Big Macs were actually big. Looking at them now, the circumference of the bun looks no bigger than a junior burger but with some sad-looking pieces of lettuce, another pattie and an extra bun layer jammed in.

But McDonald’s has consistently denied the Big Mac is smaller than when it first landed in Australia in 1971.

A McDonald’s spokeswoman said: “Our Big Mac is the same size today as when it was first introduced in Australia in 1971. Over the years, the packaging it’s served to you in has changed and the recipe has had some minor adjustments made to it, like when we reduced the sugar in the buns and the sodium in the cheese, but we’ve never decreased the size of the burger.”

Apparently, we’ve just gotten bigger.

Have you noticed products are getting smaller? Sound off in the comments below or email the writer at [e-mail].