Biden calls on snack companies to stop 'shrinkflation' ahead of Super Bowl
Biden calls on snack companies to stop 'shrinkflation' ahead of Super Bowl
Joe Biden doesn’t want corporate greed to eat into your Super Bowl snack spread.
"Biden initiates performative finger waggling with no real consequences or expectations for anyone involved, on twitter."
If we’re gonna have a feckless ineffective government it’s better that it makes nice sounds.
Just snack companies?
Unless he's willing to do something about it, I don't think making this kind of statement is politically helpful. The snack makers will just ignore him, and then he ends up looking impotent and irrelevant, feeding the Republican narrative against his presidency.
Same thing with his administration publicly wringing its hands about the death toll in Gaza. Meanwhile the US continues funding Netanyahu's war machine, which publicly thumbs its nose at the president. It projects weakness.
I don't think he has the power to do anything about it.
And he shouldn’t be able to do much to directly interfere with the market.
However one thing he can do is regulate transparency. A big reason shrinkflation is so widespread is that you can hide the change pretty well, but consumer protection regulations already require clear pricing, including per unit, and at least some semblance of truth in advertising, so additional regulations to improve honesty and transparency are quite appropriate. Government needs to establish a fair market, then it’s up to the market
That may not prevent shrinkflation but at least we can keep products companies from lying about it. Then it’s up to us
I remember people online vehemently defending potato chips companies filling up their packaging with air. Where are they now?
Where are they now?
...here! Kinda at least - hear me out.
There's a ratio of air-to-chip that gives the optimal amount of chips to most protection provided by the 'pillow' of air. Exceed that and you've got a bag of chip sawdust or need to switch to hard packaging like Pringles tubes (which... Pringles don't really cost more, so maybe tubes are the way to go anyway).
IIRC that ratio is something like 30% chip to 70% air by volume. Which feels like you're getting ripped off, but is defensible for quality sake.
The 'kinda' kicks in when chip manufacturers know they've trained us to expect a low chip-to-air ratio, and crank it up to like 10-90, and keep the cost the same. That's just fucking the consumer, and the manufacturers can go to hell for that shit.
Old Food Theorists video on the chip to air ratio in bags:
for the record, the air does serve a purpose in the packaging, keeping chips from getting crushed.
that said... there seems to be a lot more air in there than there used to be.
Stop calling to. Regulate them!
That’s quite the photo…
Also, it’s weird that the president is still on Twitter.
Is this an ad? Because I sure do want an $8 thimble of ice cream right now.
Edit: is that Breyers in the picture? I should amend that to $8 dairy adjacent snack.
Tackling the real issues
I would say that companies artificially raising prices because their competitors are doing it too is actually a big problem which accounts for a ton of needless economic hardship.
Presidents have previously implemented anti trust policies; it's not like this is anything new.
And goddamn it my oreo had regular sized cookies with a tiny little nickle sized speck of filling in the middle. It looked ridiculous.
Rising food cost is absolutely real issue I don't know why you even pretend otherwise.
Snacks?! How about housing costs, costs for higher education, or medical care?! Maybe do something about internet provider monopolies coupled with data caps in large swaths of the country??
But no, you want to make sure Americans can stuff their faces with 10% more dorito dust per bag. Jesus man.
Real priority i see .
Direct video: https://x.com/POTUS/status/1756713597864988940?s=20
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“There is no denying that shrinkflation is real and that it is having a measurable impact on family budgets,” concluded a December report published by Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.
The report found common household and grocery items noticeably decreased in size between January 2019 and October 2023, while unit prices rose more than 20%.
For example, a pack of Double-Stuffed Oreos now weigh 6% less, Gatorade bottles hold 12% less liquid, and a Walmart’s Great Value Ultra Strong paper towel roll has 28% fewer sheets, according to the report.
Biden also didn’t address the companies by name, although the video panned over snacks like Doritos, Wheat Thins and Gatorade, which were mentioned in Casey’s report.
A CNN poll conducted by SSRS last month found just 26% of Americans say they feel the economy is starting to recover from the problems it faced in the past few years, up 9 points from December 2022.
Most Americans who said the economy is still in a downturn cited inflation and the cost of living generally (50%) or the price of specific items like food (9%) or housing (7%), with many pointing to their own financial situations.
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Doing a genocide really works up an appetite, I suppose!