Calling Out Shrinkflation

Author

Liam Gill
January 31, 2025

Hey All,

Welcome back to Middle Ground; this is third newsletter as part of our 28 policies in the 28-day series ahead of the 2025 Ontario provincial election. Today, we will discuss how the provincial government can call our shrinkflation and prevent consumers from being duped into paying more for less.

Summary

To prevent corporations from using shrinkflation to increase profits and mislead consumers, retailers should be required to post a sign on store shelves beside products whose sizes have declined. This sign should tell customers how much the product size has declined and provide a cost per unit (g/ml/lb) comparison between the previous size and the current size.

What is Shrinkflation?
Shrinkflation is a business practice used by most producers of consumer packaged goods where they decrease the size of products to increase their margins while maintaining the same or similar price point. Below is an example of products that have experienced shrinkflation.

Consumers are often too busy to notice these small changes in size when shopping. This means that they purchase products expecting the same size and quantity as they had previously purchased but instead are fooled into paying the same price for fewer goods. 

This deception attacks consumers’ ability to make informed purchasing decisions, a fundamental aspect of a capitalist society. Without the ability to make informed decisions, consumers may support a brand providing a lesser or more expensive good to them, inadvertently harming competitors that they would actually be supporting had they been given the opportunity to make an informed decision. 

In brief, without informed purchasing decisions, the most basic assumptions about capitalism and how it operates to provide benefits to us all no longer stand.

How can we fix this?
Retailers should be required to post a sign on store shelves beside products whose sizes have declined. This sign should tell customers how much the product size has declined and provide a cost per unit (g/ml/lb) comparison between the previous size and the current size. 

This law has already been passed in France. Below, you can see a sign in a French store that says, “This product has seen its size LOWERED and the amount charged by our supplier INCREASED”.  Immediately consumers know they are paying more for less.

Let's take it a step further and add a $ per L comparison at the bottom to say something like, “$2.00/L now $2.50/L.” That way, we can more easily compare between brands.

Policy Initiative

Require all retailers with more than 3 locations in Ontario to post a sign on store shelves beside products whose sizes have declined. This sign must inform customers (i) of changes in product sizes,
(ii) of changes in product prices, and
(iii) provide a comparison of the price per size before and after the change.
All signs must remain for 1 month following the change in size.

Further Reading:

Onwards and Upwards,

P.S. - Please share this with as many people as possible to help grow our community and help us hold our elected officials responsible for implementing these policy initiatives.