This isn't a remotely recent phenomena. Back in the 90s when I was studying computer graphics I checked out a textbook on statistics and data visualization fro

This isn't a remotely recent phenomena. Back in the 90s when I was studying computer graphics I checked out a textbook on statistics and data visualization from the local library. I don't remember the year it was published, but it was one of those old hardcover books with browning coarse paper pages and a dark linen lining on the exterior. It was full of real world, hand-drawn visualizations, and one of the economic examples plotted Hersheys chocolate bar size per year across over a decade, with some other economic factor, GDP or some such. The text went a bit off on a tangent describing how the price of the bar stayed relatively constant but its volume varied in lockstep with the economy. I doubt you could use the Hersheys bar today as an economic barometer since we have so much variety on the store shelves. Back then there was just one Hersheys bar... but they seem to have always manipulated its size over its price.