The shrinkage of candy bars over the decades of my youth and early adulthood marked my first ex-posure to what has come to be known as ‘shrinkflation’. Now, one historic candy bar has brought the phenomenon dramatically back to our attention…
BOO! HISS! POOH! I can vividly recall my unfiltered reaction to the discovery that, while prices for my fave candy bars were rising over the years, their sizes were shrinking…
I was indignant
I complained, as a single-digit-aged kid, to my Dad about what we now call shrinkflat-ion. He brushed me off, saying the bars weren’t getting smaller; I was getting big-ger. But I knew better. The packages stayed the same size. But the bars inside were definitely getting shorter and shorter, if only a few millimeters at a time…
Like climate change
‘Shrinkflation’ as the subject of much controversy and debate over the latter decades of the 20th Century. Many folks claimed complainers had fallen prey to illusions and hallucinations. Meanwhile, astute folks – some of whom even resort-ed to actual research and record keeping to support their position – insisted that, while packages remained he same size, we were getting progressively less product in them.
We all know now that manufacturers were systematically reducing the product volume in bulk pack-aged items such as breakfast cereal, to they keep their prices per package from rising – something consumers were far more likely to notice.
Empirical proof
Now, a chance discovery by a ‘compassionate hoarding restoration specialist’ has brought shrink-flation dramatically to the forefront.
Victoria Gordon, owner of cleaning company Pocket Rockets, had been sorting through floor-to-cieling piles of boxes in an elderly woman’s spare bedroom.
“Nobody had been in the bedroom for years, absolutely floor to ceiling with boxes and bags, and it took us two days to clear the whole room,” Gordon told CTV News.
Going through one random box, she came across a MARS bar with a manufacturing date stamp of 1991. “As I lifted it out of the box, it was literally the size of my hand,” she said. “It was enormous.”
Further investigation revealed the 35-year-old bar weighed 62.5 g / 2.2 oz. A 2026 MARS bar fresh off the shelf weighs just 40 g / 1.4 oz.
Went viral
She immediately posted a TikTok reel revealing her find – and her amazement at it – and went on with the job. A little while later, she realized the vid had gone viral and drawn more than 1,600 comments.
In reply to one commenter, she posted a second clip showing the old bar side-by-side with an ex-ample of the current product. It was like a flashback to my childhood. I was amazed.
MARS responds
Mars Inc., the U.S. manufacturer of MARS, Snickers, Skittles and Twix, told CTV News: “Like many food manufacturers, we continue to navigate unprecedented cost pressures across our operations and global supply chains,” Mars Inc. told the outlet in an email, adding that the chocolate bar’s recipe remains “completely unchanged.”
“Over the last 35 years, we have made a number of updates to our bar sizes and pack formats to re-flect consumer demand, alongside considering wider external factors, such as manufacturing costs and the price of cocoa,” the company added.
My take
I had accepted that food manufacturers have had to cut back on product sizes while increasing prices over the years. Climate change, and the soaring prices of ingredients we used to take for granted – such as sugar and cocoa – have driven that reality home.
But I can’t help but note that the 1991 MARS bar is the same length as the 2026 example. There’s ob-viously been an attempt by MARS Inc. to conceal or disguise its shrinkflation activities.
I now consume candy only on special occasions, and mostly for nostalgia’s sake. But as diminished a place in my priorities as candy has taken, I’m still rendered gobsmacked and indignant all over again by Vicky Gordon’s ‘archeological’ discovery!
Maggie J.