Changes to the SpongeBob popsicle, one of Neal Chauhan's favourite childhood treats, prompted the Toronto brand strategist to begin documenting examples of shrinkflation.Supplied by Neal Chauhan
I recently noticed my go-to bar of soap had quietly shed about 20 grams, and what struck me was how little that surprised me.
A few years ago, shrinkflation – the practice of reducing the quantity or size of a product while keeping the price the same (or even raising it) – was a hot topic of conversation. Today, it seems we’ve come to terms with this new reality.
Google Trends data showed that interest in the term spiked in 2024 and the start of 2025, before plummeting at the end of last year and keeping relatively steady in the following months.
This pattern tracks with what seems to be a broader adaptation to higher food prices. “Canadians increasingly believe price increases are moderating,” reads last week’s Canadian Food Sentiment Index report from Dalhousie University.
In 2024, just over 40 per cent of Canadians believed food prices had risen by more than 10 per cent over the previous year, the report found. That figure dropped down to 29.7 per cent in 2026. And yet, food inflation today hovers at around double the level of two years ago.
Meanwhile, shrinkflation hasn’t gone anywhere. But it is shapeshifting and manifesting in new ways. At least, according to someone who hasn’t stopped talking about it.
Neal Chauhan, a Toronto-based brand strategist, said a childhood treat was what first got him to start documenting examples of shrinkflation back in 2023.
The SpongeBob popsicle he had grown up buying swapped the big bubblegum eyes for fake chocolate chips, “and later, to nothing at all,” Chauhan said in an interview.
Among the most egregious examples of shrinkflation he later saw was a standard pack of gum with an empty gum pocket, marketed as a “thumb grip.”
“I don’t know if anyone’s ever asked for a thumb grip in their gum before,” said Mr. Chauhan.
His videos, which have garnered more than 100 million views, showcase some of the most inventive varieties of shrinkflation: deeper dents in a bottle of Gatorade cutting down on volume; fewer packs in an instant oats box with the new number written in smaller font; a Toblerone bar with the hills and valleys spread further apart.
And don’t forget skimpflation. The practice of cutting costs by opting for lower quality ingredients can be exemplified through one of Mr. Chauhan’s videos showing a new bottle of salad dressing with a fraction of the olive oil and more water than the old one.
Faced with the mounting price of cocoa, major chocolate companies have even tweaked their recipes to the point that many no longer meet the Canadian government’s definition of “milk chocolate,” which requires the product to be at least 25 per cent cocoa solids.
But the more nefarious examples Mr. Chauhan says he has been seeing recently are often in the cleaning and personal care aisles.
“The thing that really gets to me are a lot of the household items,” he said. “Laundry detergent, diapers – for a lot of those, the boxes and the containers are identically sized, they’re just putting a lot less inside.” One example included a box of diapers going from 100 to 92 units, with the new number hidden out of view by signage advertising the new packaging.
And shrinkflation isn’t just restricted to the superstore aisles any more.
The new 2026 version of the Motorola Razr flip phone now costs $800, up from $700 on the 2025 model, but starts with roughly half the gigabytes of storage. Google’s more expensive Pixel 11 Pro Fold is set to get downgraded by four gigabytes of RAM – a type of digital storage.
But although shrinkflation has evolved in scale and form, the rules governing it in Canada haven’t, even as countries around the world such as Brazil, France and Hungary made moves to combat or improve transparency around the practice.
In Canada, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry responded to public backlash by creating a Grocery Task Force charged with monitoring practices such as shrinkflation back in 2023. Since then, there have been no formal rules to curb it.
For now, the most effective tool remains consumer awareness, Mr. Chauhan said.
He has two tips:
- Keep an eye out for brands that announce a “new and improved” look or packaging. It often means they’ve changed the content too.
- Lean on store brands to save. They’re often identical in quality but usually operate on leaner margins, he said, and are less likely to rely on shrinkflation to offset rising costs.
What’s the most unexpected example of shrinkflation that you’ve seen outside the grocery aisle? Drop me a line at mpostelnyak@globeandmail.com.
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