The sneaky labels you might start seeing in your local supermarket soon

Have you noticed these labels on shop shelves? (Picture: Gavin Wren) Every year, as Christmas rolls around, we start talking about the size of chocolate tubs. We all know tins of Quality Street and Roses have been getting smaller, but what about the rest of the products in the supermarket? Shrinkflation is happening all around us, and you might not have even realised it. One person who’s determined to bring the issue to light, though, is Gavin Wren. The food and consumer affairs content creator has worked in food policy for a decade and regularly shares shrinkflation updates on social media, letting his followers know when popular products have gotten smaller. Now taking things one step further, with his own form of ‘shrinkflation guerrilla activism’. Gavin, 48, has started sneakily adding labels on supermarket shelves to show when a product has been hit by shrinkflation. With a background in graphic design, he’s been able to create labels that match supermarket branding, so they don’t look out of place in the aisles. He shared an example on Instagram recently, showing how he’d added little signs next to packets of Fox’s biscuits in Tesco. These featured Tesco’s iconic blue and yellow colouring, and stated that the packs of biscuits were now ‘11 per cent smaller’. Speaking to Metro, Gavin claimed the labels are a ‘harmless’ way to help the public be ‘better informed and also get retailers and big food companies’ attention. Ask Metro Use AI to go deeper into the stories you care about – powered by Metro and trusted publications. ‘People are really struggling, and yes, they need financial help, but they also need to be informed,’ he said. ‘Big food businesses have been squeezed, but they’ve also been putting up prices and reducing the size of things, and the problem is people feel cheated when the size changes and they aren’t told about it. ‘People are a bit more pragmatic about price rises; they don’t want them to happen, but at least they’re clearly labelled in the supermarket, you can see the prices. With shrinkflation, it’s going under the radar, so it feels a bit more naughty.’ He’s added labels in Tesco and Sainsbury’s so far (Picture: Gavin Wren) Gavin was inspired to start the project after seeing what’s been happening in countries like South Korea, France, Germany, and Romania where supermarkets have to advertise when a product has changed in size. ‘There’s proper legislation around it, and I thought it was a great idea. ‘We always see a “25 per cent extra free” message when they increase the size of a pack, so it’s only fair to tell people when things go the other way too.’ So he got to work, and shoppers might already have noticed his labels popping up in Tesco and Sainsbury’s stores in East London. But they won’t be limited to these retailers, as he plans to add more in other supermarkets across the capital soon. And he’s hopeful the project will take off, and other people will start adding their own in stores around the UK too. ‘I’m planning to create little packs of the shelf edge labels so that other people can put them in their local supermarket if we notice any really significant cases of shrinkflation,’ he says. ‘It’s dead easy to do. The labels take about 10 minutes to make on the computer, a few minutes to print, and then I just stick them in the supermarket.’ Do you want to be better informed about shrinkflation? Sign up to Metro's The Slice newsletter for your guide to what's on in London, with trusted reviews, offers and giveaways. He’s not stopping there either. Gavin’s working on creating a giant shrinkflation database, keeping track of all the product changes he can find, and asking people to submit any they come across. As part of this, he’ll be sharing monthly shrinkflation updates online, in a bid to keep people informed. And if enough people get on board with his campaign, he’s keen to launch a petition, calling for manufacturers or retailers to take more responsibility and advertise shrinkflation clearly. ‘I think it’s a policy proposal that people could really get behind,’ he states. ‘Since I’ve started making more content around this topic, I’ve found out there are tons of little cases of shrinkflation happening all the time that no one is talking about.’ Gavin claims packets of Digestives have been reduced in size from 360g to 315g (Picture: Gavin Wren) And if you’re wondering which everyday items have been hit hardest by shrinkflation, Gavin says there’s an obvious answer. ‘Anything to do with chocolate is a biggie,’ he declares. ‘There’s been huge pressure in the chocolate supply chain, with the price of cocoa, and that’s driven chocolate producers to scrape back their margins in any way they can. ‘So anything chocolate-related is the worst affected, and we see that especially in Christmas chocolate tubs, but there have also been some changes to Cadbury Dairy Milk’ Other products he’s recently highlighted on social media include packets of McVities Digestive biscuits, which he showed had been reduced from 360g to 315g, and Fox’s Half-Coated Milk Chocolate Cookies, which had gone from 175g to 157g. 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