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Eventually the elastic snaps on product downsizing and they relaunch a new "king size" or "sharing" product. For example, the Mars Bar in the UK grew from 49g

Eventually the elastic snaps on product downsizing and they relaunch a new "king size" or "sharing" product. For example, the Mars Bar in the UK grew from 49g to 65g then shrank back down to 51g, but they also launched an 84g king size bar. After complaints from the regulators, the king size bar was replaced by "Mars Duo" - two 42g bars in the same pack, ostensibly designed for sharing. Cheaper ingredients can also be substituted by redesigning the product. The chocolate on a Mars bar is thinner than it used to be and the nougat has an airier texture, maintaining product size while reducing ingredient cost. Many chocolate manufacturers have increased the number of SKUs with inclusions like cookie or honeycomb pieces. Sugar, flour and air are cheaper than cocoa, but it feels like you're getting more for your money than if you'd bought a plain chocolate bar.

pbhjpbhj 9y ago
Confectioners have become exceptionally good at aeration it seems. 8 years or more ago the UK high street confectioner Thorntons served lovely chocolates, now they're all aerated foam with a thin shell of chocolate flavoured wax, they honestly turn my stomach whilst once-upon-a-time I'd happily eat a whole box. Of course one's own taste for sweets changes but I think they're more to blame. Once Kraft took over Cadbury we got recipe changes - palm oil - to the standard chocolate; and lots of new bars with inclusions, as you mention, in order to reduce the amount of chocolate but keep the bulk. Nearly all ice-cream now in UK supermarkets seems to boast "soft scoop" which is just the aeration AFAICT, meaning you get "half" the volume of actual ingredients (except air) in the same tub. This sort of cheating with foods seems to have accelerated since the recession.