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Nominees for »Sham Pack of the Year«
Photo: Hamburg Consumer Center
Everything is getting more expensive, this common impression of consumers has been confirmed by record-breaking inflation rates for some time.
But while price jumps for a pound of coffee or a kilo of flour quickly catch the eye, there is also a hidden type of price increase: Manufacturers reduce the filling quantity of their products, but simply leave the price the same.
That's why the Hamburg Consumer Advice Center has a "deceptive package of the year" chosen every year.
The candidates this time are Upfield's Rama margarine, Lactalis' Leerdammer cheese, Kellogg's Pringles chips, Reckitt Benckiser's Calgon water softener and Haribo gummy bears (
further information on the products and comments from the manufacturers can be found in the photo gallery
).
Consumers can vote online until January 22 at 6 p.m. to see who will receive the inglorious title this year.
Again and again, the "well-disguised changes in filling quantities are the means of choice to push through sometimes drastic price increases," criticize consumer advocates - and also hold supermarkets and the government responsible for this.
The cheating works "so well because the trade, which alone sets the sales prices, participates, and politics allows the companies to do their thing."
According to the consumer advice center, a look at Brazil shows that things could be done differently.
There, manufacturers would have to clearly indicate the old and new contents of the product as well as the absolute and percentage shrinkage values for at least six months on the front of the packaging.
Consumer advocates are also calling for legal requirements for reducing filling quantities in Germany.
For ecological reasons, stricter rules for the air content are also necessary, according to Hamburg.
Politicians have »let consumers down long enough«.
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