look at your toilet paper roll, is it shorter than it used to be? how about your cereal, is the box only about one half full? has the price come down? NO!
One of the ‘genius’ marketing ploys is to dream up some factor of a food product that can be minutely changed, the offering it as “New! and Improved!” while cutting down the content. Selling less for more is as old as mankind. It’s especially effective if the volume or weight change can be disguised by keeping the same-sized container.
Take Campbell’s condensed soups, for instance. The can size has not changed since the 50s, when each can contained 12 oz of product. However, the content has. Today the cans contain only 10.5 oz. And now the labels have the weight cleverly obscured by printing it over a confusing background, making it hard to read.
A 1.5 oz difference may not seem like a lot to you in an individual purchase, but please consider the very real consequences. Every 7 cans gives up enough to make up the contents of an 8th can. For 1,000,000 cans, at $1 per can (intentionally stated low) that’s an added $142,857 in pure profit to Campbell’s. Americans alone consume more than 3.5 million cans of Campbell’s condensed soups a day, so that is a cool $500,000 extra profit per day, or $182,500,000 a year.
Invested at a simple interest return of just 5% per year, that would make a piking retirement income of only $9,125,000 annually. I might manage to struggle by with that.
LookingGlass Premium Member about 3 years ago
You’re lucky!! Most companies would also raise the price by at least 50%!!
Oscat about 3 years ago
Organic/less Fat: Pay more for less! Now, don’t you feel better?
GovernorOfCalisota {LoveBozobyFoxo} Premium Member about 3 years ago
His legs are so thin ‘cause, despite gravity, blood hasn’t been able to reach that part of his body in a long time. :D
P51Strega about 3 years ago
I think Minnie opened each cookie, licked out half the cream and put them back together.
Zebrastripes about 3 years ago
Wish I had a Pooch who watched out for my eating habits…….FAT CHANCE!
Sgt. Snorkle about 3 years ago
look at your toilet paper roll, is it shorter than it used to be? how about your cereal, is the box only about one half full? has the price come down? NO!
LJZ Premium Member about 3 years ago
And you’ll eat twice as many… marketing genius!
proclusstudent about 3 years ago
@Liz
Many people just eat the whole box or bag. Less fat means less satiety and hence being hungry sooner and wanting to eat more.
Remember Sanckwells? Zero fat and i ate two bags and was still hungry. That was my first and only time to buy them.
mistercatworks about 3 years ago
I still remember when you could buy a pound can of espresso beans instead of 10 oz.
christelisbetty about 3 years ago
What ? ? Oh, sorry I was watching Mike, waiting for him to bloe out a seam.
SrTechWriter about 3 years ago
One of the ‘genius’ marketing ploys is to dream up some factor of a food product that can be minutely changed, the offering it as “New! and Improved!” while cutting down the content. Selling less for more is as old as mankind. It’s especially effective if the volume or weight change can be disguised by keeping the same-sized container.
Take Campbell’s condensed soups, for instance. The can size has not changed since the 50s, when each can contained 12 oz of product. However, the content has. Today the cans contain only 10.5 oz. And now the labels have the weight cleverly obscured by printing it over a confusing background, making it hard to read.
A 1.5 oz difference may not seem like a lot to you in an individual purchase, but please consider the very real consequences. Every 7 cans gives up enough to make up the contents of an 8th can. For 1,000,000 cans, at $1 per can (intentionally stated low) that’s an added $142,857 in pure profit to Campbell’s. Americans alone consume more than 3.5 million cans of Campbell’s condensed soups a day, so that is a cool $500,000 extra profit per day, or $182,500,000 a year.
Invested at a simple interest return of just 5% per year, that would make a piking retirement income of only $9,125,000 annually. I might manage to struggle by with that.
I’m in the wrong business.
57BelAir about 3 years ago
Material costs are probably not 50% of the cookie price, you still have manufacturing cost and margin.