Kraft: We'd Rather You Go 23% Hungrier Than Pay A Few Cents More

Yesterday, we showed you photographic evidence of how the Grocery Shrink Ray had zapped one reader’s Oscar Mayer Lunchables packages from 4.4 oz. to 3.3 oz. Turns out he wasn’t the only reader who was less than thrilled about the change.

Reader Jen says she brought the smaller package to the attention of Oscar Mayer’s parent company Kraft Foods and received the following PR-friendly response:

We have changed our packaging in an effort to bring quality products to our consumers at the most affordable price. We all know that prices are increasing on everything from gasoline and corn to automobiles and houses. As costs go up, companies often find that they must raise prices to maintain high quality. The alternative to raising the price of any given product is to offer the product in a slightly smaller size. When we reduce the size of a product, it allows us to offer the product to our consumers at the best affordable price point.

What Kraft fails to either realize or admit to in this response is that one Lunchables pack is and has always been considered a single serving. So this isn’t the same as shrinking 10% off large, multi-serving jug of orange juice or putting 15% fewer potato chips in a bag. This is cutting out almost one-quarter of a single serving and charging the exact same amount as before.

So a better comparison would be McDonald’s changing to Big Mac to 1.54 all-beef patties and charging the same amount.

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