Food Shrinkflation
That bag of chips you bought was more air than chips. Those hostess cupcakes? WAY smaller than they were when you were a kid. Even the holes in our BAGELS ARE GETTING BIGGER! What the heck is going on? No you aren’t getting fatter and making everything around you smaller. In fact you may be losing weight thanks to food shrinkflation.
What is food shrinkflation?
Now you may look at this as a negative thing. I mean isn’t it deceptive that the food things we used to buy were bigger than they are now? Isn’t it false advertising to show a donut with a next to non-existant hole in it when in fact what you get is less of a Donut and more of Donecklace? With inflation going up isn’t this just ONE MORE WAY that the big corprate fat cats are taking the screws to the American consumer?
I disagree
I mean think about what you’re saying for a second. You’re mad that you’re getting less ultra-sugary-processed-fat-flakes? You’re peeved that you’re consuming fewer inorganic-microplastic-nuggets? I could see if the packaging was lying to you and saying you were getting a 12 oz can of fizzy-carcenogic-pesticide-sugar-water. But it isn’t. It says 8oz. You’re going to lose weight. You’re going to have to drink more cheap stuff like (shudder) water and eat more filling things like vegetables. You should be happy instead of pissed off.
So what’s the real problem with food shrinkflation?
I know and you know, we all know what the real problem is. No one asked you. Yes, you are paying more for less. Yes, you are inexplicably still hungry after eating things that used to make you feel full. But that’s not the problem. The problem is that things change. You wake up and suddenly your favorite band is classic rock. Your favorite movie is on TCM. The cereal you bought takes up less space in the box than it used to. I get it. I’m 42 and horrified every day when I wake up that the world keeps on spinning without asking my permission first. It gives you a feeling like you’re not in control. Every time you get a little less soap from the bottle, it’s a reminder that someone else is in charge and you are not.
Oh and the other problem is major corporations have spent decades making sure we’re addicted to their products. So now you have to buy more and more of their food to satiate your hunger while you watch the price go up and up helplessly.
Anyway here are 14 examples of food shrinkflation
Jonathan Wier
Jonathan Wier grew up in St. Louis where he was obsessed with the voices that came out of the radio. He would listen for hours wondering what that person on the other side would say next.
After failing to find happiness in playing music or manual labor he decided to go to college for radio at WLCA in Godfrey Illinois. He then started working at 97.1 KFTK in St. Louis as a producer and on-air talent.
From there he has hosted shows in Gainesville Florida (News Talk WSKY 2011-2012), Kansas City (News Talk KMBZ 2012-2019) and now makes his home at Country 102.5 in Boston.
He lives in Lexington with his wife and two sons. When he’s not at work you can find him watching football, playing music with his kids or trying his best to make his wife not regret marrying a radio guy.
