Oreo cookies, known as the world’s best-selling cookie, are now embroiled in a ‘shrinkflation’ controversy.
On the 12th, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Oreo cookies, with a history of over 100 years, are under suspicion of ‘shrinkflation,’ where the product volume is reduced while the price is kept the same or increased.
Shane Lansonne, a bottled water salesman living in New Iberia, Louisiana, was taken aback a few months ago when he opened an Oreo cookie package as usual in the evening.
As was his habit, he inserted a fork into the cream between the cookies to dip it in a glass of milk, only to find the cookie had broken. Many Americans eat Oreos by sticking a fork between the cookies and dipping them in milk, and Lansonne was startled to find that the other Oreos in the box also had less cream.
Among American consumers, there are many claims that the ‘Double Stuf Oreo,’ which is said to have double the amount of cream, has an average amount of cream, and the original version has less. Some complained that the cream did not reach the cookie’s edges and the product did not match the picture on the packaging.
When the shrinkflation controversy arose, some Oreo fans even began promoting Hydrox, a competitor of Oreo.
In response, Mondelez, the manufacturer of Oreo, has dismissed these claims, stating that they have not changed the ratio of cookie to cream.
They have been closely monitoring and have not detected any serious complaints related to the cream ratio, and refute that it is not affecting the Oreo brand, which sells about 40 billion pieces in over 100 countries each year, forming a market of $4 billion (approximately 5.3 trillion KRW).
Dirk Van de Put, CEO of Mondelez, said, “If we start messing with quality, it would be like shooting myself in the foot.”
WSJ referred to this controversy as the biggest ‘shrinkflation’ scandal.
Posts claiming that the amount of Oreo cream has decreased are also lining up in the shrinkflation on Reddit.
Oreo has undergone many changes since its launch in 1912. In the 1990s, then-manufacturer Nabisco started using vegetable oil instead of lard and removed trans fats in the 2000s when Kraft Foods was the owner.
Among Mondelez’s products, Toblerone, a chocolate bar shaped like a triangular prism, faced backlash from consumers for shrinkflation in 2016. They reduced the weight by increasing the gap between the teeth.
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