KitKat, Smarties, Lion: Nestlé is "tricking you" with smaller packages (but costs increased by up to 25%)

Six Nestlé products from the Kitkat, Lion and Smarties brands are more expensive due to smaller pack fill quantities.

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Six Nestlé products from the Kitkat, Lion and Smarties brands are more expensive due to smaller pack fill quantities. The multinational justifies the price increase with higher production costs and more sustainable packaging solutions, but a German association unmasks the practice (legal, but not very honest)

Is Nestlé a repeat offender? In recent years, the legalized "scam" of "less at the same price" has been used several times and now 6 products of the Group have fully deserved the title of "Sham Pack of the Month May", the "dummy package of the month of May". What does it mean? That the packages are smaller than the proposed price: we are talking about hidden increases in value of between 12 and 25%.

It is the famous shrinkflation, a practice to which Nestlé, among other things, seems particularly accustomed. To unmask the "crime" is Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg, the German consumers' association which announced that in May it hit not just one product, "but half of Nestlé's range of sweets".

As if to say, you have to fall for it.

For now, the affected products are:

KitKat cardboard box
Mini KitKat
Lion cardboard box
Lion Mini
Smarties cardboard box
Smarties mini

Index

KitKat is sometimes 25% more expensive

As the note from Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg reads, KitKat sees the biggest price hike right now. The KitKat package is no longer available with five bars (5 x 41,5 grams), but only with four (4 x 41,5 grams). In stores, however, the packaging usually still costs 1,99 euros. This makes chocolate bars 25% more expensive.

The situation with the Kitkat Mini seems very similar. Only 13 packs (217 grams) instead of 15 packs (250 grams) are sold for 2,99 euros. This corresponds to a price increase of a good 15%.

Lion, and the lion shrinks into… a kitten

Even the packaging of Lion - claims the association - has a long history of hidden price increases. With the current shrinkage of the Lion carton box, Nestlé has reduced the number of bars per pack from six (6 x 30 grams) to five (5 x 30 grams). For the same price of 1,99 euros, the package with the bars has become 20% more expensive.

There are also some deceptions with Lion's Minis. The numbers: 234 grams instead of 270 grams in the package. The format of the outer packaging has changed slightly; however, the retail price is often still 2,99 euros. The hidden price increase is therefore 15,4%.

Smarties, few in the package

In this case, the packaging has shrunk from 4 x 38 grams to 4 x 34 grams, concludes Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg. For the same price, the famous chocolate colored buttons have become almost 12% more expensive. The only good thing about this is that the cardboard rolls with Smarties are no longer in additional plastic packaging, but are attached to each other by perforations, completely free of plastic.

The Smarties minis have also been reduced: from 216 to 187 grams at the same price of around 2,99 euros. This results in a hidden price increase of more than 15%. According to Nestlé, the packaging of the minis has been replaced by paper.

Nestlé's position

Nestlé justifies the price increases for Kitkat, Lion and Smarties mainly with higher production costs:

“(…) With this adjustment we are reacting to the increase in costs in recent years. For example, we are investing in our manufacturing facilities to further improve product quality. We also continuously incur costs through initiatives and collaborations to improve sustainability, for example in the cultivation of cocoa (...) "

And the word cocoa, we are a little surprised if we consider that, as the consumer association explains, the one for KitKat bars, for example, comes from farmers who for years have had to meet the requirements of the "Nestlé Cacao Plan", a program of "sustainability" among other things repeatedly criticized. Since last year, the Nestlé cocoa harvested must no longer be Fairtrade, recalls Verbraucherzentrale:

“It just has to meet Rainforest Alliance standards, which are much less stringent. In addition, Nestlé saves the Fairtrade premiums that were previously payable to farmers ”.

In short, speaking of "cocoa", Nestlé would have done much worse. Finally, in the case of Smarties, the company also mentions the new, more environmentally friendly packaging as a reason for the price increase. Do we want to believe it?

Fonte: Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg

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