Cadbury reduces block sizes from 220g back down to 200g

News.com.au
FEBRUARY 03, 2015
HERE we go again. Your chocolate is shrinking.
If, by now, you’re confused what size your Cadbury Dairy Milk block is supposed to be, we don’t blame you. It’s been such a merry-go-around of toying with our chocolate-fuelled emotions in the last few years.
Cadbury has announced that it will reduce its standard 220g block of Dairy Milk down to 200g as a result of rising cost of manufacturing. All of its Dairy Milk variations (hazelnuts, black forest, etc) will all be streamlined to 200g as well.
Keen observers, and chocolate fans, will remember the furore in 2009 when Cadbury reduced its then-250g block to 200g. Then it made a big song-and-dance about its ‘joyful’ decision to increase the size to 220g in 2013 (no mention, of course, of its previously larger-still size).
But if you think your chocolate is about to get 1/11th cheaper to correspond with the smaller size, think again. Cadbury said it has not changed the recommended retail price of its blocks. However, retailers are responsible for setting the price consumers pay so the price point may still change.
“We know that people will not be happy about getting less chocolate, but we are maintaining what is most important — the taste and quality hasn’t changed,” a Cadbury spokesman said.
“We had to make a choice — increase the price we recommend to our retailers or change the size a little. We wanted to maintain the taste and quality while keeping Cadbury family blocks affordable as we know how important it is to people to maintain their shopping budget.”
It’s not the first time Cadbury has reduced the size of its products rather than increase the price. Nor is Cadbury the first brand to do it.
It’s a common practice in the grocery sector as consumers are less likely to notice a size change than a price increase. Pet food, body sprays, potato chips and even Vegemite (owned by the same parent company, Mondelez, as Cadbury) have all resorted to this little trick.
Cadbury said the decision to reduce the size was because of the rising cost of manufacturing, which it could no longer absorb.
Cocoa prices have increased significantly as Ebola-ravaged countries in West Africa, which produces the majority of the world’s cocoa supply, have been unable to maintain levels.
Last year, US chocolate giants, Mars and Hersheys, both raised prices in response to the supply shortage.
Asked if Cadbury will be reducing any other products besides the Dairy Milk range, its spokesman said: “We know that we do have to make this type of change from time to time, but I can’t speculate about what may or may not happen.”
The smaller-sized blocks will be rolled out onto supermarket shelves this month.
Cadbury made the announcement on its Facebook page, which has been met with disappointment and anger from consumers.