'Downsizing' Packages Gets Even Sneakier

(MoneyWatch)  Pepsico's Tropicana recently redesigned its bottles, with an on-package advertisement touting the new "fresh snap cap." What it didn't tout was that there were seven fewer ounces of orange juice in the bottle -- 89, down from 96 -- though the price remained unchanged.

This, according to Tropicana, had nothing to do with boosting the per-ounce price of the product, but with achieving "optimum configuration" for the bottle, the company told The Today Show, which this morning took a look at "downsizing" -- the practice of food companies furtively making packages smaller rather than just raising prices.

Perhaps the most egregious example cited in the segment was a change to the jars containing Skippy peanut butter. Seen head-on, the old and new jars look identical. But by indenting the bottom of the new jar, Skippy owner Unilever was able to effectively raise the price. "Very sneaky," said Edgar Dworsky, proprietor of the excellent MousePrint.org, who shepherded The Today Show through the world of packaging chicanery.

It costs money to reengineer packages, but food companies have obviously determined that explicit price increases would hurt sales even more than their sneakiness is costing them. The Today Show reported, unsurprisingly, that this year has seen more package-smallering than ever before.

How do consumers feel about all this? "Cheated" one of them said.