The State of the Union: American Consumers Should and Will Hold Companies Accountable

President Biden talked about how some companies are trying to pull a fast one and hoping you won’t notice. The American consumers are tired of being taken advantage of.

“In fact, the snack companies think you won’t notice if they change the size of the bag and put a hell of a lot fewer — same size bag — put fewer chips in it. No I’m not joking. It’s called shrinkflation. (…) You probably all saw that commercial on Snickers bars. You get charged the same amount and you got about, I don’t know, 10 percent fewer Snickers in it.”

Transparency and honesty have been top of mind for brands and branding for over a decade, but what has shifted is the increase in “whistleblowing” and calling out companies who are misbehaving or being deceptive. People are louder and quicker to call out when a company is trying to take advantage of American consumers. This is putting greater pressure on companies to have higher standards of integrity and maintain trust and credibility in the eyes of their consumers and the public.

So as inflation recedes and consumer confidence increases, companies should consider ways to emphasize the enhancements they’ve made in the post-COVID era. The good news: we work with the top CPG companies and our clients are working closely with their customers through extensive research to better deliver transparency and benefits that their customers want like bountiful taste, new product forms, limited time offers and high demand flavors.