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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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 Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 4:31 am Post subject: Lotte accused of sneaky business: snack sizes |
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http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2009/05/123_44209.html
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Snack Giant Exposed for Duping Consumers With Lower Portions
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Lotte Confectionery, the country's leading producer of cookies, candies and gum, now finds itself being chewed out by consumer rights advocates after being exposed for reducing contents of its snack packages without announcing the changes publicly.
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Whistleblower
Joined: 03 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 5:34 am Post subject: |
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I heard about this late September 2008 when watching a Korean Documentary about Lotte and their special packs of snacks. One thing to point out is that Lotte try to market their products like a buy a six pack and get 10% off but the real thing is the packs are smaller than the original so you end paying out more than what you thought.
The 'Bulmanzero' (Korean version of Watchdog) went to Lotte and demanded why customers pay more for something that looks larger than the original size and the CEOs were dumbfounded (probably sparkled).
Nice to see this has finally made the English language News and has taken 6+ months to get there. |
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Rory_Calhoun27
Joined: 14 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 5:37 am Post subject: |
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| fun-sized packaging? hardly. maybe a passing tither at best..... |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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| Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 5:40 am Post subject: |
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| Anyone noticed that Dove brand chocolate has shrunk considerably in size in recent months? A few years back, there was a cardboard box that was nearly full. Then the same box with less chocolate inside. Now they have a shrink-wrapper. I swear the shrink-wrap has barely 60% of the same chocolate inside as was in the cardboard package a few years ago. |
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ChinaBoy
Joined: 17 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 1:19 pm Post subject: |
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Don't people look at the weight?
People who don't should be ripped off. |
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PeteJB
Joined: 06 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 5:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Sigh, at least it's not as bad as the UK. Snack foods are like daylight robbery there. |
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Kenny Kimchee
Joined: 12 May 2003
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| Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 8:05 pm Post subject: |
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| bassexpander wrote: |
| Anyone noticed that Dove brand chocolate has shrunk considerably in size in recent months? A few years back, there was a cardboard box that was nearly full. Then the same box with less chocolate inside. Now they have a shrink-wrapper. I swear the shrink-wrap has barely 60% of the same chocolate inside as was in the cardboard package a few years ago. |
Yeah, it sucks. I remember during the Chinese melamine scare the packages were a lot bigger, and they were only 900 won. Now they're smaller and more expensive. Great. |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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| Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 5:16 am Post subject: |
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| Kenny Kimchee wrote: |
| bassexpander wrote: |
| Anyone noticed that Dove brand chocolate has shrunk considerably in size in recent months? A few years back, there was a cardboard box that was nearly full. Then the same box with less chocolate inside. Now they have a shrink-wrapper. I swear the shrink-wrap has barely 60% of the same chocolate inside as was in the cardboard package a few years ago. |
Yeah, it sucks. I remember during the Chinese melamine scare the packages were a lot bigger, and they were only 900 won. Now they're smaller and more expensive. Great. |
Guess some companies have to consider the lost profits from having to use melamine-free chocolate and are compensating by raising prices. |
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Robot_Teacher
Joined: 18 Feb 2009
Location: Robotting Around the World
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| Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 7:00 am Post subject: |
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| American food producers are doing the same thing. Smaller sizes for the same or higher price. It's a capitalism trend in the past couple years. No more Mr. Big Nice Guy bars for a cheap price these dayz. For example: Instead of 16 ounces, it's 13.73 ounces. Some stupid shite like that. It's OK and good to eat less, but charge us less for consuming less. GREED meets deceptive corruption is the trend of things to come. |
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bobbybigfoot
Joined: 05 May 2007
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 7:03 am Post subject: |
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This is nothing new.
I can remember chips when 200 grams was the norm. Then they dropped to 190, 180, then 160 I think. All to keep from raising the price and hoping consumers don't notice too much.
Buyer beware! |
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justaguy
Joined: 01 Jan 2008
Location: seoul
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| Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 10:48 am Post subject: |
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| I hope they don't substitute good ingredients for cheaper ones. |
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cdninkorea
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Robot_Teacher wrote: |
| American food producers are doing the same thing. Smaller sizes for the same or higher price. It's a capitalism trend in the past couple years. No more Mr. Big Nice Guy bars for a cheap price these dayz. For example: Instead of 16 ounces, it's 13.73 ounces. Some stupid shite like that. It's OK and good to eat less, but charge us less for consuming less. GREED meets deceptive corruption is the trend of things to come. |
Except in the US, where if you go to a restaurant you'll find bigger portions for less money. Really. |
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DCJames
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 3:17 pm Post subject: |
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| justaguy wrote: |
| I hope they don't substitute good ingredients for cheaper ones. |
They'll put just about ANYTHING in their products to make it taste good and to sell as much as possible. |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 3:55 pm Post subject: |
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Korean consumers set themselves up for stuff like this when they support high tariffs and buy Korean brands no matter how badly they are cheated. 
Yeah, it's bad in the USA, too. In fact it's bad all around the world. But it's worse in Korea because of the stupidity of the Korean consumers. |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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| Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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Canadian-made candy has done this as well.
Three years ago, Mr. Big was... big. Like a big fat turd. About that time, it became far skinnier, and is now like a skinny little turd. |
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