The Strange Case of the Shrinking Packages

For my wife and me, it started out with the Chobani Greek Yogurt we bought in the 6-ounce plastic cups. Remember those? Then one day I happened to notice how the yogurt cups appeared to be a wee bit smaller as I was putting them into the shopping cart.

So, I read the label's fine print (luckily, I was wearing my bifocals) and discovered it was now 5.3(!) ounces of yogurt packaged in the plastic cup. The price hadn't changed, but the proportion size had decreased. Instead of raising the price, we got 0.7 ounce less of yogurt.

Our young checker paused while he was swiping the yogurt cups over the price scanner. He scratched his head and wondered out loud when the yogurt cup size had shrunk, and we filled him in.

So, I checked around. Peter McGuinness, Chobani’s chief marketing and brand officer, said: “It is the established category norm; everyone is at 5.3 ounces. Many of our consumers were confused at the shelf when comparing nutritional information. Many have sent messages clearly to us saying, ‘Why do you have more sugar and calories?’ We wanted to level the playing field so they were comparing apples to apples, yogurt to yogurt.” (Source: Boston Globe, 2/14/14)