PepsiCo is unshrinking shrinkflation.
The owner of Lay’s, Doritos, Tostitos and Ruffles chips will put more chips in some bags to claw back customers tired of higher prices with skimpier bags. Shoppers have balked at downsized chips, cookies, paper towels and other products, widely known as shrinkflation, and turned to cheaper options or stopped buying altogether.
A PepsiCo spokesperson told CNN that Tostitos and Ruffles “bonus” bags will contain 20% more chips for the same price as standard bags in select locations. PepsiCo is also adding two additional small chip bags to its variety-pack option with 18 bags, the spokesperson said.
“It’s the football season. There’s a lot of gatherings,” PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said on an earnings call last week.
It’s a reversal of years of shrinking bags of Tostitos, Ruffles and other chip brands.
In 2021, Edgar Dworsky, a consumer protection lawyer and founder of the website Consumer World, who meticulously tracks shrinkflation, found that Tostitos’ “Hint of Guacamole” version shrank by one ounce from 12 to 11 ounces, while its “Hint of Lime” version dropped from 13 ounces to 11. Dworsky also found that Ruffles shaved off a half-ounce to a “Sour Cream & Onion” bag in 2013.
“It’s about time,” Dworsky said of PepsiCo’s move. “Chip lovers have suffered through years of downsizings.”
Read more at CNN.com
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