Shrink-Wrapped: Our Products Are Getting Smaller

With the world's eyes firmly on the U.S. as voters went to the polls in the 2016 presidential election, the people at Mondelēz International probably thought it was a pretty safe time to announce the design change and size reduction of its classic product, the Toblerone. Unfortunately for them, they underestimated the passion people in the UK can have for confectionary. As one Twitter user pointed out, the news managed to beat the U.S. election down into place number two on the BBC News 'Most Read' list.

While high profile examples of products getting smaller can lead to the impression that all of our favourite purchases are shrinking, what is the reality? According to analysis by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) released today, the conspiracy theories may well be true. In the course of tracking the cost of products, the ONS has come across 2,529 examples of items reducing in size during the last five years - the vast majority of which are food products. It's not all doom and gloom though, with 614 getting bigger over the same time period.