A Costco shopper is demanding answers from the store after purchasing an underwhelming batch of Halloween candy.
Skye (@skyesversion), who recorded her video from inside her home, said she had just returned from Costco when filming. She opened a miniature bag of peanut M&M’S—part of a larger pack that she planned to pass out to kids on Halloween—and found a surprise inside.
“Look, I just opened it,” Skye said after opening the package. “There’s two peanut M&Ms in this. What the [expletive]. There’s just two. Two.”
She doubled down on her confusion in the accompanying video caption. “Is this shrinkflation?” Skye questioned. As of Tuesday, her video had amassed more than 516,400 views.
How is shrinkflation affecting Halloween?
If reports are true, trick-or-treaters should prepare to be frightened this year. Not because of witches, ghouls, or ghosts, of course—but because their candy hauls will be much lighter than in past years.
According to WWL, chocolate candies, in particular, will be less prevalent because cocoa prices are sky-high.
“Since January 2024 it’s gone up 100% in price. And since July 2022 it’s up 230% in what the U.S. dollar price of cocoa beans are,” David Branch, an analyst with the Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute, told KGO-TV.
As the cost of the main ingredient in chocolate increases, companies have had to pivot—either by increasing their prices or resorting to shrinkflation. This refers to the practice of a product getting smaller and smaller even as the overall price remains the same.
According to the market research first Circana, U.S.-based confectionery companies are accounting for high cocoa prices by stocking shelves with fewer Halloween chocolates. Instead, they’re filling stores with cheaper treats, including gummies, licorice, and Sour Patch Kids.
“Companies are strategically saying if they’re [customers are] going to choose not to buy chocolate, we better have something that they can choose or we’ll lose out on this business,” Mike von Massow, a food economist at the University of Guelph told Global News.
But this is certainly impacting candy buyers, including Skye and other content creators. In another video from earlier in the week, a second TikTok user, @kb78769, said she experienced a similar predicament. In short, the user unboxed a mini Halloween treat pack, only to find that it contained a single M&M.
“Halloween candy is not what it used to be,” @kb78769 said in her clip.
@skyesversion Is this shrinkflation????
♬ original sound – Skye
Viewers recount similar experiences
In the comments section, Skye clarified that several bags of the mini M&M’S contained just a small batch of goodies.
“I haven’t checked them all but seems most have 5 or so except this pkg had 2 and another one I opened had 1,” she said.
Other Halloween shoppers said they’ve seen or experienced the same thing this year.
“Halloween candy is the biggest rip off now,” one person said. “It’s like $10 more per big bag than it was like 2 years ago.”
“We got the zombie takis mini bags for a friend and they got some bags with 2-4 takis,” another added.
“Saw a lady earlier had just 1 in the bag,” a third viewer said.
Others, of course, attempted to make light of the candy situation.
“Maybe that’s the TRICK,” one woman said.
“Factory worker is like, one for you, one for me, one for you, one for me,” another wrote.
“It’s precisely m and m, what do you want,” a third viewer quipped.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Skye via TikTok comment, as well as to Costco and Mars Wrigley through their media request forms.
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