Fury as popular Cadbury's chocolate bar slashes size but keeps the same price

Scottish Sun

20-07-2025

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SHOPPERS are furious after Cadbury slashed the size of one of its bars, while keeping prices the same.
The bars have been popular in the UK ever since they were first launched in 1970, but the shocking move is causing fans to turn their back on the product.
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Cadbury is reducing the size of one of its most popular products
Credit: Getty
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The number of Curly Wurly bars in each pack is being shrunk
Credit: Cadbury
Curly Wurly bars are caramel-flavoured sticks of toffee, which are slathered with Cadbury's milk chocolate, and are amongst the nation's favourite sweet treats.
Normally, the product sells for £1.40 and contains five bars.
However, Cadbury has shrunk the product down to just four bars and have kept the item's price at £1.40.
While the actual bars will be remaining the same size as they were, there will be one fewer bar in each pack than normal.
The Curly Wurly bars are far from the first product to be shrunk in a cost cutting drive, with Fudge and Freddos being reduced to four bars and packs of Dairy Milk Little Bars going from six to four.
However, fans are furious at the move with some swearing off the product for good.
One shopper even took to X to say: 'I'll try to enjoy this four pack as it will be my last.'
After slashing the number of bars in each pack, Cadbury's owner, Mondelēz International, said the decision was taken after increases in cocoa and dairy prices.
A statement released by the company said: 'We understand the economic pressures that consumers continue to face and any changes to our product sizes is a last resort for our business.
'However, as a food producer, we are continuing to experience significantly higher input costs across our supply chain, with ingredients such as cocoa and dairy, which are widely used in our products, costing far more than they have done previously.
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'Meanwhile, other costs like energy and transport, also remain high.
"This means that our products continue to be much more expensive to make and while we have absorbed these costs where possible, we still face considerable challenges.
'As a result of this difficult environment, we have had to make the decision to slightly reduce the weight of our Cadbury Curly Wurly multipacks so that we can continue to provide consumers with the brands they love, without compromising on the great taste and quality they expect.'
Reducing the size of a product without lowering its cost is a sneaky move known as Shrinkflation.
There is also another strategy often adopted by manufacturers known as skimpflation, where companies reduce the quality of a product's ingredients while keeping its price the same.
What is Skimpflation?
When production costs rise, brands often turn to "skimpflation
This is where the recipe for a food or drink item is changed to try and reduce production costs.
Despite the lowered production costs, shoppers still pay the same amount of money that they did before.
But shoppers still pay the same, or more.
It means shoppers won't pay more when costs increase for the company making the item - but they will get less product.
Smaller products are easier for customers to digest compared to increasing prices, making it a popular option for manufacturers as it's less noticeable.
Another tactic for businesses is "shrinkflation".
This is where they reduce the size of their products, while keeping the buying cost level.
That means shoppers are buying less of the product for the same amount of money.