Cadbury classic chocolate bar fans vow to 'never buy again' as they notice fave has shrunk

Daily Mirror

21-07-2025

The popular treat has been downsized- but the price has remained the same, with shoppers vowing to never buy it again
Customers are up in arms after Cadbury decided to reduce the number of bars in one of its products without altering the price.
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The confectionery, a staple since its 1970 debut in the UK, has seen its popularity wane following this controversial decision, leading some loyal fans to abandon the product altogether.
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Curly Wurly bars, known for their chewy caramel toffee coated in Cadbury's signature milk chocolate, are among Britain's most cherished sweets.
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Typically retailing at £1.40 for a pack containing five bars, Cadbury has now reduced the pack size to four bars while maintaining the original price point.
Despite the individual bars retaining their usual size, consumers will now find one less bar per packet than they're accustomed to.
This isn't the first time a beloved treat has been downsized in an effort to cut costs; Fudge and Freddos have also seen reductions to four bars per pack, and Dairy Milk Little Bars packs have shrunk from six to four.
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When the fudge bars were shrunk one shopper fumed in a scathing review on the Tesco website: 'Apparently these are no longer meant to go in kids lunchboxes any more because there are 5 days in the school week, not 4.'
They added: 'The price hasn't changed though .' A second customer asked: 'When will it stop? Not a happy customer! Same goes for fudge bars.' And another said: 'Same price, fewer bars. Not good.'
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The Curly Wurly reduction has sparked outrage among chocolate lovers, with some vowing never to purchase the product again.
One disgruntled customer expressed their discontent on social media, stating: "I'll try to enjoy this four pack as it will be my last."
Following the cutback on bar numbers, Cadbury's parent company, Mondelēz International, explained that the move was a response to rising cocoa and dairy costs.
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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.
'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 sly tactic 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.