There are always complaints about deceptive packaging.
But in the latest case, even experienced consumer advocates are flattened.
Hamburg - "We've never had such a sham." When the Hamburg consumer advice center begins such a text, the trickery must be severe, after all, consumer advocates have been denouncing brazen price increases of products for years.
An Edeka customer also suspected that about a pack of bratwurst, but his complaint was not well received.
The current case is about bread chips, which are now more than twice as expensive.
Bake Rolls, formerly sold under the 7days brand, are now sold under the Tuc brand.
Nothing unusual so far.
But if you take a closer look at the price and the size of the pack, it gets violent.
Mondelez tricks consumers with questionable means
250 grams of the bread chips were previously available from Rewe for 1.39 euros.
Now the size has shrunk to 150 grams and the price has risen to 1.89 euros.
All in all, it makes 127 percent more that consumers have to shell out for the snack.
Higher price for less content: Shrinkflation is perfect.
A corresponding number of complaints reached the Hamburg consumer advice center, which recently named Rama the “deceptive package of the year 2022”.
A user on Facebook, for example, wishes "that a lot of people would boycott the article and the company would go bankrupt."
Less Content and More Expensive: Lots of complaints about snack cheat packs
"This month, our deceptive pack of the month is a very special case," write the consumer advocates.
They speak of a "refined brand exchange" that Mondelez has carried out.
Because both "7days" and "Tuc" are brands of the global food company.
Beforehand | Now |
Name: Bake Rolls | Name: Bake Rolls |
Brand: 7days | Brand: Tuc |
Content: 250 grams | Content: 150 grams |
Price at Rewe: 1.39 euros | Price at Rewe: 1.89 euros |
Price per kilogram: 5.56 euros | Price per kilogram: 12.60 euros |
What also misleads consumers: The "Tuc" package says "new" at the top left.
But that was also exposed by the consumer advice center.
"Appearance, recipes and nutritional values of the various 'Bake Rolls' are virtually identical, for all varieties." The colors of the old brand have also been adopted.
Only the salt content is slightly lower.
Deceptive package of bread chips: Rewe and Mondelez are keeping a low profile
Both Rewe and Mondelez answered evasively to critical questions from the consumer center.
The food group, for example, only confirmed that "salty snacks such as bread chips in Germany are sold under our TUC cracker brand".
When asked about the extreme price increase and the role of the supermarket, Rewe replied: "We see it as our task to curb rising prices in the interest of our customers - where possible.
But we can neither undo the kind of inflation we are currently experiencing nor bear it alone.” A price war has been simmering between supermarkets and food companies for a long time.
(mt)
List of rubrics: © IMAGO/Manfred Segerer