Cadbury’s cut its Christmas box in half for the third year running by shrinking its Wispa and Double Decker bars.
This means that chocolate lovers are receiving 24g less chocolate this Christmas than three years ago.
This would be like losing a whole Fudge bar.
Santa Selection Box now contains 145g of chocolate, down from 169g in 2018.
Cadbury’s cut its Christmas box in half for the third straight year. They have also reduced the Wispa bar and Double Decker bars.
The box last year contained a 40g Doubledecker and a 30.5g Wispa.
Now, they have decreased by 7-9% to 37.3g and 27.3g respectively.
Experts described this change as “shrinkflation”, which is when the product quantity you purchase decreases while the price remains the same.
This year the box is still on sale for £2 – the same as in recent years – but the cheapest offer price available in some supermarkets is £1.25, up from £1 last year.
The former British brand Cadbury’s was renamed Mondelez International and the Fudge disappeared from its selection boxes. This caused enormous outrage.
It brought Fudge back to 2019 but the chocolate weight in the boxes was only 153g.
It caused more controversy last year when it reduced 12 percent off Fudge, shrinking it from 25g down to 22g. The box’s total weight dropped to 150g.
The company claimed at the time that this was part of an effort to reduce childhood obesity by ensuring all its chocolates for children are under 100 calories.
The 100-calorie goal was not met by the Double Decker or the Wispa, which are both newly slimmed.
In 2018, Santa Selection Box weighed just 169g. This year, it weighs only 145g.
The Wispa is 152 kcal while the Double Decker has 171kcal.
This means that customers pay more for less chocolate.
Fairer Finance consumer expert James Daley stated: “Reducing the chocolate content in a packet while maintaining the price – or worse, increasing it – feels devious.
“Manufacturers should make it mandatory to notify consumers of changes such as these, or else they could stop making them.”
Cadbury’s spokeswoman said, “We will always seek to absorb as many extra costs as we can.”
“However, sometimes we have to decide to slightly lower the weight or size of our products in order to maintain their affordability while maintaining the excellent taste Cadbury fans expect.
This was part of its goal to cut down on all multipack adult chocolates at the end of the year to less than 200 calories.
| Jahr | Weighing in grams |
|---|---|
| 2018 2019 2020 2021 |
169g 153g 150g 145g |