Outrage as Cadbury's chocolate bar becomes latest 'shrinkflation' victim
Customers are livid after Cadbury decided to reduce the number of bars in one of its products whilst maintaining the same price. The beloved confection, which has been a firm favourite since its UK debut in 1970, has seen its popularity wane following this controversial decision, with some loyal fans abandoning the product altogether.
Curly Wurly bars, renowned for their chewy caramel toffee coated in Cadbury's signature milk chocolate, are among Britain's most cherished sweets. Typically retailing for £1.40 in a five-bar multipack, Cadbury has now reduced the pack size to four bars while maintaining the identical price point.
Whilst the individual bars remain their usual size, customers will now find one bar fewer per packet than they have grown accustomed to. This is not the first time a cherished snack has been downsized in an effort to cut costs; Fudge and Freddos have also been reduced to four bars per pack, while Dairy Milk Little Bars multipacks have been slashed from six to four.
The Curly Wurly downsizing has sparked outrage among chocolate lovers, with some vowing to boycott the product completely. One disgruntled customer expressed their frustration on social media, stating: "I'll try to enjoy this four pack as it will be my last."
Following the reduction in bars per multipack, Cadbury's parent company, Mondelēz International, defended the move by pointing to rising cocoa and dairy costs. One disgruntled shopper vented their frustration on the Tesco website after noticing a reduction in fudge bars, stating: "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."
Another customer queried: "When will it stop? Not a happy customer! Same goes for fudge bars."
A further comment read: "Same price, fewer bars. Not good."
In response to the decrease in the number of bars per pack, Cadbury's parent company, Mondelēz International, cited rising cocoa and dairy costs as the reason. The company issued a statement saying: "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 whilst keeping its price the same is a crafty tactic known as Shrinkflation. There is also another method commonly employed by manufacturers called skimpflation, where companies reduce the quality of a product's ingredients whilst leaving its price untouched.
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