Are Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Smaller? An Investigative Journalism Piece
Saturday, Jun 18th, 2011I have long suspected that Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups have gotten smaller. As a wee-lad, it took as much as three whole bites to finish a cup. Now one bite feels all too natural, and I really have to go out of my way to experience a Reese’s Cup in two bites. To be fair I got bigger and that might account for their getting smaller.
Still I’ve never been suspicious of other popular chocolate brands like Snickers or Hershey’s, only Reese’s. It’s really been a longstanding mystery. One I contemplate every time I finish a pack of peanut butter cups. Somehow I always feel there should be more in there.
Last night, I decided to investigate the matter of the mysteriously shrinking peanut butter cups. Like anyone with a degree in journalism would do, I Googled it. What I found was both horrifying and shocking. In a word … horri-shocking.
Turns out the nefarious Hershey Foods Corporation [1] has been duping consumers for years. The cup size has changed, yet we’re paying the same price.
The Evidence
Exhibit A.
The above image is of a Reese’s wrapper purchased in 2003. Note the old Reese’s tagline, “There’s No Wrong Way To Eat A Reese’s.” Also note, utilizing my advanced image manipulation skills, I’ve circled the net weight in ounces and grams.
Exhibit B.
The above image is of a Reese’s wrapper purchased more recently, featuring the new orange swirl design and the current tagline “Get Lost In A Reese’s.”
If you compare the net weight with the wrapper from 03, you’ll see that there’s a three gram difference. Less carbs, less fat and less protein. 20 calories less.
So now you know, the peanut butter cups are smaller. As if Mini Reese’s and Reese’s Pieces weren’t insulting enough. Soon the same wisecrack that came up with the “fun” size will have the idea of selling powdered Reese’s. But we’re Americans I say, not Chinamen. Sell us bigger things, diametrically proportionate to our waistlines.
In case I win a Pulitzer for this investigative piece, I’d like to cover all my ground here and attribute the images. I found the images via Google on the website of a candy enthusiast who, for whatever reason, has scanned in the wrappers of every candy he has eaten in the last ten years. He also has a blog about candy wrappers. Not about candy, exclusively candy wrappers. I guess there’s a niche for everything these days.
1/27/12 Update – It looks like I spoke to soon.
- [1] In recent years, the Hershey Foods Corporation was renamed to The Hershey Company which some clever lawyers and brand marketers deemed less nefarious-sounding. ↩
6 Responses to “Are Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Smaller? An Investigative Journalism Piece”
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It’s 2011. I just bought a package of Halloween candy that had individual Reese’s as one of the candies. In past years they’ve been the sames size, or slightly smaller, than the normal two packaged Reese’s. However, this year they are PUNY!!! They are the size of a 50 cent piece! I couldn’t believe it! The bag of chocolates cost me over $15.00 at Party City. …Times are changing. Have you looked at tuna, orange juice, or a number of grocery items lately? Same size container, fewer ounces… SAME price. Everything is getting smaller but we’re paying the same amount of money – sometimes MORE. Inflation SUCKS!!!!!
Thank you for posting this. I too recently saw the PUNY little cups and couldn’t believe my eyes. Your posting confirmed that I wasn’t crazy. I’m mad! I want my full sized chocolate and peanut butter heaven.
So glad to see others felt the same way, we’ve been discussing how poor the candy was this year. The taste is so not the same and it’s ultra small. I’d rather have Seee’s candies. Taste that and you’ll never want a Reeses again! C’mon Reeses, you can do better!
Loved your piece on RPBC, was wondering if you were able to find images from an ’80 package?
[...] to which we have a right. The blog Dead Caterpillar has done the research and has proved that, yes, Reese’s Cups, over the past ten years, have gotten significantly smaller. The [...]
Thank you for posting this tragedy! I bought Reese’s Cups today, I was craving them. As I opened the package and unwrapped the brown goodness, I unveiled something munchkin-like. Truly, I thought I was going nuts. First, I thought maybe these peanut butter yummies seem much smaller because of my affection for them since I was a kid. But, reality set in … I damn well know I had many Reese’s Cups since my adolescence. Devastation set in. Everything is becoming far more clear now. No wonder I can’t figure out where all my money is going and I’m more broke than I’ve ever been in my life. Companies are screwing us! I KNEW I wasn’t crazy when I picked up that Fruit Loops box and it seemed half the size than I’m used to. We should be warned on the boxes about this and notified that the normal size has been reduced! Why can’t some smart-ass attorney start some class action law suit about this! It’s an outrage!!!! Looks like Capitalism has no ethical standards.