Magnums shrink… but the price hasn’t!
MAGNUM ice creams have shrunk by up to 20 per cent – but prices have stayed the same.
The Magnum Double Caramel is a fifth smaller, shrinking from 110ml to 88ml, while Magnum Mint shrank by 10 per cent from 110ml to 100ml.
Magnum Almond, Classic and White are all 8 per cent smaller, down from 120ml to 110ml.
Yet the price of the ice creams has stayed at £1.90 in most shops, the same as a year ago before their sizes changed.
The downsizing is due to a new cap of 250 calories in single serving ice creams introduced by makers Unilever in a bid to help fight obesity.
But Marc Gander, of the Consumer Action Group, attacked the move, saying: ‘Shrinking products is a sneaky way of putting up costs for consumers because pack sizes shrink but the prices don’t.’
Unilever said in January that the 250-calorie cap for all its ice creams, which also include Ben and Jerry’s and Cornettos, would come in this spring. The company said it would help customers make ‘healthier choices’ without compromising on taste.
It has already cut calories in its children’s ice creams, reducing Funny Feet, Twister and Calippo to 110 calories in 2012.
Other treats to shrink as part of the war on obesity but without the prices falling, include boxes of Quality Street and Cadbury Creme Eggs. Cadbury and Mars have stopped selling chocolate bars with more than 250 calories.