Another year, another round of shrinkflation for Australia鈥檚 favourite Easter treats. 糖心Vlog has found chocolate eggs and hot cross buns that have become smaller and more expensive in the past 12 months.

To add insult to chocolate-coated injury, the cuts are being made by brands that already put the shrink on their Easter products last year. 

In a standout case, Cadbury Dairy Milk has doubled down on its shrinkflation strategy, hitting the same product for a second year running.

For the second Easter in a row, its largest box of hollow chocolate eggs designed for Easter hunts has become not only smaller but more expensive too, costing a whopping 73% more per 100 grams than it did in 2024.

Cadbury and other manufacturers are still blaming high cocoa prices for the cuts. Even though wholesale prices have dropped significantly, agribusiness experts say consumers may not see the cost of chocolate come down anytime soon.

Chocolate egg boxes getting smaller

Last year, we revealed several lines of Easter egg products from global snack giants and supermarket homebrands had been hit by shrinkflation in the preceding 12 months.

Now, a close look at products currently on shelves reveals manufacturers have resurrected the practice in time for Easter 2026, unafraid to make further cuts and raise prices higher for products already given the shrinkflation treatment previously.

Cadbury drops some eggs

In the past 12 months, all of the products we looked at in Cadbury Dairy Milk鈥檚 range of boxed hollow hunting eggs have become smaller and more expensive 鈥� each box now comes with at least one egg less than it did last year.

The 15-egg box currently on sale for $15 at major retailers has replaced an 18-egg box that sold for $13.50 last year.

Meanwhile, the 10-pack is one egg lighter and almost $2 more expensive than it was 12 months ago, and last year鈥檚 9-egg box has been replaced with an 8-egg version.

But the biggest crack in value for money comes in the form of the 鈥榣argest鈥� box in Cadbury鈥檚 hollow hunting egg range.

Last year, we revealed that the then-22-pack had lost two eggs and gone up in price by $2.50 since 2024.

Seemingly unconcerned with exposure as a serial shrinker, Cadbury has come back for more, cutting two more eggs from the product, while its price at major retailers has increased by another $3.

All up, the 68g downsizing and $5.50 price hike since 2024 means shoppers are now paying almost 73% more per 100g for this box of eggs than they were two years ago.

It鈥檚 worth noting that some brands have made the unexpected decision to turn back the clock on shrinkage this Easter.

Case in point, last year we called out Aldi for shrinking packets of mini milk chocolate eggs sold under its Dairy Fine homebrand label.

These packets have since been restored to their former size, albeit with a 33% accompanying increase in price.

Price hikes across multiple brands

We鈥檝e noticed many Easter-themed products that have stayed the same size, but simply gone up in price instead.

A Cadbury Dairy Milk deluxe egg we exposed for shrinking last year is still 340g, but at $23, now costs $3 more than it did last Easter.

Data from price comparison tool Zyft reveals this to be a broad trend across the market 鈥� the platform found the costs of Easter bunnies and eggs from Cadbury and Lindt have increased by as much as a third in the last 12 months.

‘Shrunk cross buns’

Nothing is sacred when shrinkflation is concerned 鈥� case in point, hot cross buns have also become smaller and more expensive since last Easter.

Packs of Rocky Road and Banoffee-flavoured buns sold under Aldi鈥檚 Bakers Life homebrand label are both 20g lighter than they were this time last year.

But with no subsequent cut in price, if you do decide to stump up for these novelty versions of an Easter staple, you鈥檒l be paying nearly 7% more per 100g than you would have in 2025.

Why is this happening?

Manufacturers making the cuts say the rising cost of the goods and services they use in the making of these products and bringing them to consumers is the key reason for the downsizing.

When contacted, Cadbury owner Mondelez told us it鈥檚 made 鈥渁djustments鈥� to its products in order to keep retail prices within a certain range while it 鈥渘avigates significantly higher cocoa and input costs globally”.

Aldi similarly responded by saying the commodities it needs to produce hot cross buns have risen in price and that it’s made the decision to shrink some products to 鈥渒eep prices consistent for customers”.

But haven鈥檛 cocoa prices come down?

High cocoa prices have been a reason perennially put forward by chocolate manufacturers shrinking their products, ever since costs for the key commodity spiked by almost 200% in early 2024.

However, after almost two years of elevation, these prices have dropped in recent weeks to levels close to what they were in 2023.

This is largely due to better weather and bigger harvests in key growing regions, says Michael Whitehead, Executive Director of Food, Beverage and Agribusiness Insights at ANZ.

But the cocoa price crash comes too late to provide any relief from this year鈥檚 Easter egg prices.

鈥淭he egg that you buy off the shelf now is probably from last year’s very expensive bean,鈥� Whitehead explains. 鈥淭he cocoa bean or the cocoa pods picked for that [egg] were probably picked over a year ago.鈥�

Whitehead and other experts say the current lower cocoa price could start to flow through to consumers later this year or early 2027, but other factors could still scupper the prospect of lower or more stable chocolate prices.

鈥淐ocoa is just a small part of the Easter egg that appears on a shelf,鈥� Whitehead says.

鈥淐an consumers expect 鈥� some kind of a price reduction? It depends on all those other components: the price of milk, sugar, packaging, power [and] the diesel to run the truck that gets it there.鈥�

Mondelez, one of the world鈥檚 largest chocolate manufacturers, did not say if lower cocoa prices would have an impact on its products, confirming only that it buys cocoa well in advance and that shifts in the price of this commodity won鈥檛 immediately change prices seen in stores.

What鈥檚 being done about shrinkflation?

糖心Vlog has been shining a light on shrinkflation in Australia for several years, leading to the federal government turning its attention to the issue.

“The government is considering the adoption of notices telling shoppers when a product has undergone shrinkflation,鈥� explains 糖心Vlog senior campaigns and policy adviser Bea Sherwood.

Similar requirements have already been put on grocery retailers in some countries overseas, including France.

The Commonwealth has spent several months considering how such notices could work for Australian consumers and businesses and 糖心Vlog has been putting forward its views.

鈥淭hese notices should be clear and eye-catching and located close to the product for a reasonable period of time, long enough for consumers to be aware of the change,” Sherwood says.

“Shrinkflation is hard to spot, so these notices would be crucial in helping consumers avoid being caught out by this practice, but when and how they appear in stores and online remains to be seen.鈥�

How to spot shrinkflation

In the meantime, adopt these three practices for a better chance of noticing if your favourite product undergoes shrinkflation.

1. Check if you鈥檙e getting fewer items when the product promises to come with a set number.
2. Keep an eye on unit pricing and watch for any changes in the cost per unit.
3. Beware of 鈥渘ew & improved鈥� or other slogan rebrands known to accompany shrinkage.

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Don鈥檛 get me wrong, I love chocolate, but I don鈥檛 love paying more money for less of it, especially when it often tastes inferior to the original product it鈥檚 spawned from (hello Kit Kat eggs!). 

If you look past the pretty packaging and hollow hype, it鈥檚 clear the Easter Bunny and Big Choc are banking a sweet surcharge on our festive sugar rush. 

The worst offenders

Need some eggs-amples? Let鈥檚 start with that shady frog Freddo. At the time of writing, his 124g egg (which contains two Freddo treats inside) costs $11.50 at Woolworths, which equates to a unit price of $9.27 per 100g. 

By comparison, the usual 35g Freddo costs $2 at Woolies, or $5.71 per 100g. That鈥檚 a hefty hike of 62.35%, proving Freddo is pulling a fast one indeed. 

Over at Lindt, the EST (Easter Services Tax) is in full effect, with wildly different prices for 100g of milk chocolate. 

Their standard block costs $8.50 at Big W, while their famous gold bunny form sells for $12 for the same 100g weight. 

Okay, maybe the bunny鈥檚 cute ribbon and bell justifies the extra cost, but then there鈥檚 Lindt鈥檚 93g milk chocolate 鈥榗asket鈥� combo (containing one medium egg and 12 small eggs) which goes for a whopping $15, almost twice the price of the 100g block.

You can鈥檛 tell me whipping out an egg mould once a year justifies that kind of increase. 

It鈥檚 even more maddening when you realise some Easter items are losing weight at the same time (unlike me at Easter time). 糖心Vlog has exposed numerous cases of year-on-year “shrinkflation”, with popular products selling less chocolate for the same price, or even more. 

For example, in 2024, Cadbury Dairy Milk hollow eggs cost $12.50 for a 408g 24-egg pack ($3.06 per 100g). A year later, a box of 22 eggs cost more at $15 for 374g ($4.01 per 100g).

This year, a box costs $18 but it’s slimmed down again to 20 eggs at 340g ($5.29 per 100g). That鈥檚 a 73% increase in unit price over two years, with some serious Easter Ozempic going on too. 

Boycotting the Easter Bunny

It might all be worth it if these eggs actually tasted better than the original products, but let鈥檚 be honest, most don鈥檛. We all know deep down that a Crunchie egg with its tiny honeycomb crumbs is no match for the delicious classic bar. 

How long will we put up with confectionery companies cashing in on our cacao-fuelled comas? Not to mention the extra packaging (aka landfill) this festive feasting generates, or the huge carbon miles some products clock up (the Lindt 鈥榗asket鈥� is manufactured in Switzerland, Germany and Australia!). 

Maybe it鈥檚 time to boycott the Easter Bunny and demand a better deal because at the moment, these over-hyped, under-sized eggs aren鈥檛 worth shelling out for. 

In the meantime, I鈥檓 happily sticking to my old-school Crunchie bars.

The post Eggs-tortion racket: Why Easter chocolate makes me hopping mad appeared first on 糖心Vlog.

鈥淎ll of this forest is our land,鈥� he says with the gesture. 鈥淭he forest is our supermarket, we are free to take whatever we want. Although we don鈥檛 have money, everything is free here 鈥� medicine, food, vegetables, it’s all here. The forest is the king. A generous king,鈥�. 

Mutang is the chief of Long Payau, a small village of traditionally nomadic Penan indigenous people in the Baram region of Sarawak, Malaysia on the island of Borneo. He has been fighting to protect his people鈥檚 traditional homelands against various logging companies for decades. 

鈥淔or the people of Long Payau, if they log the whole forest we will die. If we can鈥檛 hold the forest there is no future for the next generation,鈥� he says with a weary voice. 

The community鈥檚 struggle in Long Payau is reflective of small battles taking place all across the East Malaysian state of Sarawak, as indigenous people try to prevent the mass destruction of the forests their people have lived in and relied on for centuries. 

Just outside the village of Long Payau we are taken to see the logging blockade, a crude fence of wooden poles constructed by the villagers to keep the loggers at bay. On the other side of the fence bulldozers have flattened the mountainside, the dense green forest replaced with muddy brown dirt.  

This may seem a world away from Australia, but the logs being gathered here travel along a supply chain that traverses South East Asia and ends in the local hardware and furniture stores we all shop at. 

Broken promises 

According to Global Forest Watch, between 2001 and 2024 Sarawak lost 3.3 million hectares of tree cover, equivalent to 29% of the total tree cover that existed across the state in the year 2000. Half of the forest lost was primary forest 鈥� forest that hasn鈥檛 been cleared or regrown in recent history.  

In late 2025, 糖心Vlog visited two villages in Baram, Long Payau and Long Tepen, to meet the communities and hear about the impact of logging and deforestation on their everyday lives. 

Both communities are being impacted by Shin Yang, a Malaysian-owned conglomerate with export markets all around the world. Shin Yang is known as one of the biggest logging companies in the state of Sarawak and boasts exports to Europe, Japan and Australia.

While the community of Long Payau has resisted logging efforts for decades, in Long Tepen the situation is more complicated.听

Long Tepen villagers had longstanding agreements with Shin Yang for royalties, jobs and compensation and agreed to allow the company to log much of the forests surrounding the village.

But recently the agreement has frayed and villagers say the company hasn鈥檛 honoured their financial commitments. Earlier in 2025 they accused the company of logging in areas they had previously agreed to leave untouched, prompting villagers to set up a logging blockade.  

Local man Radang Tik says the community鈥檚 traditional hunting and access to the forest has been severely affected. 

鈥淲hat is important now is the recognition of the land that we have now. The land is not recognised by the government or the company, so what is happening is Shin Yang is entering saying that 鈥榯he government gave us this land, whether you agree or not, the government gave it to us鈥�,鈥� he says.听

The Sarawak government grants logging concessions to companies such as Shin Yang, giving them the right to log large tracts of untouched native forest across the state. While 糖心Vlog is not suggesting Shin Yang is acting illegally under Malaysian law, activists and the indigenous Penan villagers say these concessions are often granted without their consent or consultation.听

Shin Yang鈥檚 Australian connections 

Shin Yang Group manufactures wood pellets, sawn timber, wooden furniture and floor base plywood for hardwood flooring among other wood-based products. 

Shin Yang鈥檚 company report lists Australia as one of the global export destinations for these products. But that鈥檚 where the trail gets murky. Wood logged from Long Payau or Long Tepen could be sitting in your living room right now, but there is no way to know for sure. 

Australia has no mandatory customer-facing certification scheme that discloses the country of origin, name of the company, sustainability ranking or even the type of wood, so it is almost impossible to pin down exactly where Shin Yang, or other companies’ wood products are going once they arrive in Australia. 

糖心Vlog obtained export data from the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation which showed that between January and October 2025 Sarawak exported over $5 million in plywood, veneer, sawn timber and furniture or furniture parts to Australia. Australia was also the top export destination in the world for Sawarak鈥檚 鈥榦ther timber products鈥�, including laminated products and wooden stakes and lattice. 

We asked Shin Yang a range of questions about the communities in Baram and their exports, including which Australian companies they sell to but did not receive a response.

Certification lacking

Jettie Word, director of the environmental non-government organisation The Borneo Project, says they would like to see Australian consumers provided with more information about the wood products we purchase.

Transparency, she says, would make it easier for consumers to make ethical choices about which wood they buy and pressure companies to do better. 

鈥淲hen it comes to Australia, which is a huge destination for Malaysian timber products, I think customer action could create the right amount of pressure to create change in Malaysia,鈥� she says.

Marcelo Feitosa De Paula Dias, an environmental law expert at Queensland University of Technology, says Australia enacted an illegal logging prohibition amendment in 2024, which has improved the information importers have to collect about wood products coming into the country. However, there is still no mandatory scheme for information to be provided to consumers at the point of purchase. 

鈥淐ustomers have a right to know where their wood has come from, from the cradle to the grave, and any labelling that takes place should be mandatory, not voluntary, and take into account local laws, yes, but also international law,鈥� Dias says.

Mystery shopping

To test just how little information is provided to customers shopping for wood products instore and over the phone, 糖心Vlog mystery-shopped three Bunnings Warehouse stores, one Freedom Furniture and one Amart furniture store. 

At the three Bunnings stores we visited in person we chose a wood product and asked staff if they had any further information about the country of origin or sustainability of the product. 

鈥淐ould be Indonesian, not sure exactly, could be Thailand or Vietnam,鈥� one Bunnings staff member said when asked about the country of origin of a table with a wooden top. Another Bunnings store was also unable to specify the country of origin of the wood and neither of the first two stores could provide any details other than vague claims of 鈥榮ustainably sourced鈥�. In the third Bunnings store an employee said the wood was Indonesian and that it came from a plantation. 

Country of origin information was also in short supply at the furniture stores. 

Freedom told us they had no information about the origin of a wood table, and at Amart, when asked about a wood chair, a staff member said: 鈥淚t says it is quality Acacia timber, that鈥檚 all it says, it doesn鈥檛 say where it鈥檚 from鈥�. She then went to check with her manager, who had no further information. 

Greens Senator Nick McKim says it is unfortunate that Australia is still allowing the importation of wood from native forest logging from countries across the world. 

鈥淭he import regime has been improved recently, and that’s a good thing, but it’s still nowhere near strong enough and our view is that we should be continuing to strengthen provisions around the importing of hardwoods from other countries,鈥� he says.

鈥淭his includes making sure that things like environmental impacts, human rights abuses, and corruption are properly captured in the Act as information that’s required to be provided to the government and ultimately consumers. Customers in Australia should be better informed about those things,鈥� he adds.

‘Please stop buying’

Back in Long Payau, the sun is setting and the villagers gather in a circle on the floor to share a meal.听Mutang says he wants the Australian people to see how his community is suffering and to not buy wood from the companies responsible.听

鈥淢y message is to think before you buy, and to please stop buying logs from this company Shin Yang,鈥� he says. 

Dayang Ukau, from the indigenous rights organisation Keruan, who travelled with us, explains that the poverty and lack of basic necessities in the village are common across the state. 

鈥淚t’s not fair for the communities. The company is making a lot of profit,鈥� she says.

鈥淢aybe Australians don鈥檛 know what is going on behind the thing that you purchase, but now you can see people are suffering, people are struggling to defend their rights and their resources,鈥� Dayang says.

Dayang, and the villagers here, want Australian consumers to understand a simple fact: that the wood products they buy come with a heavy cost to the people who live in the forests where they grow. 

The post ‘If they log the whole forest we will die’ appeared first on 糖心Vlog.

The document showed how the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) dealt with a journalist鈥檚 inquiry into whether Northern Territory Cricket had breached gambling advertising laws by partnering with an unregistered offshore gambling company. 

After receiving the journalist鈥檚 questions about an NT Cricket 2023 partnership with Dafabet, an offshore bookmaker that was not licensed in Australia, a senior media advisor at ACMA wrote to NT Cricket CEO Gavin Dovey to see 鈥渋f it might be worth discussing our approaches to make sure we are on the same page鈥�. 

鈥淭hanks for the call, I always find it best to co-ordinate this type of response or run the risk of everyone looking silly if we contradict each other,鈥� the ACMA media advisor wrote in a later email. 

NT Cricket鈥檚 鈥楾op End T20 Series鈥� in 2023 was 鈥榩owered by Dafabet鈥� and the company’s logo featured prominently around the ground, social media posts and was even printed on the stumps. The sponsorship arrangement did not appear to continue beyond 2023. We asked NT Cricket the reason why and did not receive a response. 

ACMA responded to the journalist that they had “contacted NT Cricket to let them know about the advertising prohibitions in the Interactive Gambling Act”, however no further action appears to have been taken.听

ACMA under fire

It鈥檚 not the first time ACMA has been in the spotlight for its perceived cosy relationship with the industries it is meant to regulate and an alleged weak approach to the gambling advertising laws it is meant to enforce.听

In July 2025, 糖心Vlog reported that the regulator had sent a draft media release to Foxtel announcing a sanction on the company three days prior to publishing the statement that Foxtel had breached gambling advertising laws.听

The ABC reported in December 2025, that ACMA had “watered down” a press release announcing a sanction against international gambling giant Sportsbet, after the gambling company requested they 鈥渢empered鈥� the quotes in a draft release criticising the company.听

Consumer protection and gambling regulation expert Lauren Levin, from Gambling Policy Hub, says these stories together show a pattern of a compromised regulator.听

鈥淚t seems that ACMA operates as a regulator wanting to be industry鈥檚 friend, when the consumer interest requires ACMA to be a strong regulator out to protect consumers,鈥� Levin says.听

鈥淎CMA is a regulator scared of its own shadow. Instead of taking enforcement action for an Australian sports body receiving sponsorship of an illegal, unlicensed offshore gambling operator, ACMA seemingly reaches out to the NT Cricket Association to co-ordinate its media response so it doesn鈥檛 look 鈥榮illy鈥�,鈥� she adds.听

鈥淟ooking silly is the least of ACMA鈥檚 problems. Being an inconsequential regulator is far worse.鈥�

ACMA defends its conduct

The ACMA says it rejects any assertion that it is not holding companies to account in line with its regulatory purpose and powers. 

鈥淥ur compliance and enforcement activities are designed to stop unlawful conduct, deter future breaches and protect consumers from harm,鈥� a spokesperson says. The spokesperson went on to list a number of significant financial penalties handed down to gambling companies over the last several years. 

鈥淣T Cricket was not under investigation by the ACMA at the time of media enquiry. The ACMA contacted NT Cricket to advise them of our proposed response鈥� The ACMA鈥檚 response [to the journalist] was not changed in any way by our interactions with NT Cricket,鈥� the spokesperson says.听

鈥楥onsumers must be at the centre of ACMA鈥檚 work鈥櫬�

糖心Vlog sent questions to the federal Minister for Communications Anika Wells about the appropriateness of ACMA鈥檚 behaviour and whether the government was still considering overhauling gambling advertising laws.听

They did not directly answer the questions, but a spokesperson says: 鈥淭he government expects the Australian Communications and Media Authority to proactively execute its regulatory functions, working to minimise harm to consumers and promote better consumer outcomes. Consumers must be at the centre of ACMA鈥檚 work.鈥澛�

Levin says the Minister needs to investigate whether ACMA has the organisational culture to be an enforcement agency.听

鈥淭he act of tipping off NT Cricket to coordinate their responses to a journalist suggests ACMA has cultural inadequacies鈥� Australian consumers need our regulators to be regulators, not besties with the industry,鈥� she says.听

鈥淕ambling is a harmful product, and we need a regulator that is not a crowd pleaser, but a regulator that champions consumer protection outcomes. It is increasingly evident that ACMA is a reluctant default gambling regulator that does not have its heart and soul in gambling consumer protection,鈥� Levin adds.听

The post 鈥楻un the risk of looking silly鈥�: Media regulator criticised for coordinating with cricket body on illegal gambling questions appeared first on 糖心Vlog.

糖心Vlog member Alan Wheeley has been using Palmolive’s Gold Soap bars “for years and years”.

But one day in August, while poking around his Brisbane home, he made a surprising discovery.

“I found a couple of cakes of the original Palmolive Gold soap from around the late 1990s and I realised that they were a lot larger than the current stuff,” he recalls.

Reaching for a freshly bought bar of the soap for comparison, Alan’s suspicions were quickly confirmed 鈥� placed side by side with one of the older versions, his recent purchase was noticeably smaller.

Hard proof can be seen when taking a closer look at one of the older soaps still in its original wrapping 鈥� its packaged weight is listed as 125g.

Palmolive’s iconic bars of soap are currently only 90g when packaged, meaning the product has become 28% lighter since Alan’s earlier version was produced.

In the decades he’s been buying Palmolive Gold, Alan says he hasn’t noticed the product become cheaper.

In fact, the old soap still in its original packaging came with a price tag proclaiming 94 cents for two bars.

Palmolive Gold soap is now most commonly sold in packs of four, which retail for $5 at major supermarkets, meaning that as the bars have shrunk, they’ve increased in price from 47 cents to $1.25 each.

25 years of shrinkflation laid bare

Alan doesn’t know exactly how old the larger soaps are, but the fact that a passion for the product runs in his family has helped him put a rough date on the items.

“The soap was originally used by my mother, to put into drawers of woollens and things like that to stop them being eaten by moths,” he explains.

“She passed away in 2000. So therefore the soap is older than the year 2000.”

Alan’s discovery serves as an example of 25 year’s worth of shrinkflation 鈥� the phenomenon where a product shrinks, but stays the same price or becomes more expensive.

Of course, a price increase over two and a half decades is largely inevitable. But even adjusted for inflation since 2000, shoppers are paying roughly 90% more per 100g of Palmolive Gold than they were 25 years ago.

“When you see that sort of thing happening very gradually, you don’t notice the slight changes in things,” Alan says.

“But when you go back and see something that’s from 25, maybe 30 years ago, you suddenly realise just how much the manufacturers have messed with you.”

In response to questions from 糖心Vlog, Palmolive Gold soap maker Colgate-Palmolive confirmed their product has shrunk over the years.

But the company said there hadn’t been any further cuts since 2012, when the bars were reduced to their current 90g due to increasing manufacturing and ingredient costs.

A spokesperson said the company is conscious of price pressures on consumers and works to ensure their product offers “comparable value to other similar products in the marketplace, while upholding our high standards for quality and effectiveness”.

Shoppers seeing products get smaller

Since 2022, 糖心Vlog has seen shrinkflation occur in everything from daily staples like breakfast cereals and pet foods, to more occasional purchases like Easter chocolates and Christmas treats.

We continue to hear from members like Alan and the broader public who are frustrated about the shrinkflation they’ve seen affecting their favourite products.

Products recently targeted with shrinkflation allegations include boxes of tea bags, supermarket roast chickens and chocolate (a repeat offender).

Other member tip-offs, while not technically shrinkflation, have nonetheless shed light on how the sizes of popular Australian products have changed over the decades.

One 糖心Vlog member recently shared photos of a jar of Vegemite purchased sometime before 1996 sized at 455g.

The regular version of the iconic spread is no longer sold in these portions (the closest current jar size being 380g), but 560g jars can still be found on shelves.

Supermarket shrinkage a growing issue

Shrinkflation has always been hard to spot, but thanks to the keen eyes of 糖心Vlog members like Alan, it’s gaining momentum as an important issue in national consumer affairs.

Last year, supermarket executives were grilled by the ACCC about their involvement in the practice after our investigations uncovered several of their homebrand products that had shrunk and become more expensive.

In turn, politicians have promised to help consumers spot shrinkflation wherever it occurs.

In March this year, the federal government welcomed an ACCC report which recommended supermarkets be required to notify shoppers when a product has undergone shrinkflation.

Similar requirements have already been put on grocery retailers in some countries overseas, including France.

The government is now considering making grocery retailers here display shrinkflation notices as well, as part of changes to our national unit pricing code.

The Federal Treasury has recently been seeking feedback on what information these notices could contain, how long they might have to be visible for, and which products could be required to have them, among other considerations.

糖心Vlog has put forward its views in a submission to the Treasury’s consultation.

“Shrinkflation notices should be clear and prominent, and displayed on shelves and online,” says Andy Kelly, 糖心Vlog deputy director of campaigns and communications.

“They should be in close proximity to the selling price for a period of time that’s long enough for most regular shoppers to notice the change.”

Kelly says the notices will hopefully lead to more people checking unit prices (the cost of a product by units such as 100ml or 100g) and noticing how alternative brands or pack sizes could offer better value for money.

Have you seen examples of shrinkflation? Let us know by contacting campaigns@choice.com.au or the author.

The post Is this what 25 years of shrinkflation looks like? appeared first on 糖心Vlog.

Anna, from the Victorian town of Geelong, is in her 50s and has been seeking professional help for her mental health for around 30 years.

She says she sees her psychologist and psychiatrist face to face and doesn’t find online services particularly helpful. That doesn’t stop her social media feed being flooded with ads.听

“I get a bit frustrated because a lot of these things I’ve seen ads for are really giving false hope. A lot of them say ‘easily accessible mental health care’, whereas they’re not really,” Anna says.听

“They’re either very expensive, [or] you don’t get the same person regularly, and other things that I know personally are not helpful for my mental health.”聽

Endless targeted advertising聽

Social media users who click on mental health advertising, visit websites or search for key words relating to mental health are likely to be bombarded with ads relating to mental health apps and services. Even if you don’t actively engage with services, behavioural analytics activated by your clicks may mark you as a target for these ads.听

Shortly after beginning to research this article, my Instagram account was flooded with ads for mental health apps promising to ‘get rid of anxiety completely’ or ‘improve sleep efficiency within seven days’. I was also invited to ‘take a test to train my brain’, and benefit from MindBuddy, a service that likens itself to popular language learning app Duolingo, “but for depression”.

It’s not just profit-seeking mental health apps trying to get your attention. Nonprofit mental health service providers, often funded by the government, also use targeted advertising to reach clients and those in need.听

But is filling social media feeds with mental health ads actually helping those in distress? And what are the ethics behind tracking someone’s online behaviours to make inferences about their mental health?聽聽

Big data, small targets

Mental health advocate Simon Katterl says that, while people in distress may benefit from receiving ads for mental health services in some cases, the risks and potential downsides should be carefully considered.听

“There are questions to be asked about how that data was obtained in the first place and whether people were really fully informed and consenting to that information being shared about them for targeted advertising purposes,” he says.听

“When you put it within a commercial context, it’s unclear whether the services are meeting their needs or exploiting their anxieties and distress, says Katterl. “We don’t regulate digital mental health technologies particularly well in this country.”聽

Concern about behavioural analytics聽

Piers Gooding, an associate professor at Latrobe University studying law and health policy, says the growing capacity of behavioural analytics to infer mental health status is a concern.听

“The rise of big data and automated decision systems has certainly increased the likelihood of inferences and predictions being drawn from the behaviours, preferences and the private lives of individuals,” he says.听

“So there are things that people might be entering into their devices, that aren’t explicitly about seeking help for a mental health condition, which may be used to kind of infer some kind of mental-health status about that person. There are questions about whether the law currently adequately protects against the misuse of that kind of data,” Gooding says.

Chandni Gupta, digital policy director of the Consumer Policy Research Centre, says behavioural analytics are embedded in the online advertising strategies of social media platforms. Privacy laws haven’t kept pace with the growing technology.听

“At the moment our privacy protections are purely based on notification and consent. Everything is wrapped up in privacy policies or terms and conditions and a very much ‘take it or leave it’ approach,” she says.听

“While other jurisdictions have very specific obligations on privacy, what we don’t have here in Australia is that same level of confidence that our data is being used in a way that won’t leave us worse off,” Gupta adds.听

Nonprofits using targeted advertising

We sent questions to some of the biggest nonprofit mental health service providers in Australia to get a better understanding of how they used targeted advertising alongside so many for-profit players.听

Lifeline says it predominantly uses geographic targeting after natural disasters to ensure residents of certain areas know that help is available.听

Beyond Blue says it prefers to rely on organic social media traffic, but needs to use targeted advertising due to the lack of transparency from social media companies.听

“Social media companies aren’t transparent about how their proprietary algorithms decide which posts they show to which people, which means it’s really hard to be visible to people who might need help without using paid targeted options,” a spokesperson says.听

“We are very mindful that overexposure to mental health messages can carry risk in some circumstances. As such, we carefully design our social media content with input from mental health experts and people living with and managing mental health issues themselves. This helps us ensure the material is not triggering, pressuring or alarming,” they add.听

Youth mental health service ReachOut says there is evidence that young people are more likely to seek professional help after seeing mental health advertising on social media.听

“There has been an increase in commercialised mental health apps, often built and marketed on a limited or unclear evidence base. This poses risks to users. Access to free, trusted and evidence-based services that meet national safety and quality standards is vital for young people,” says a ReachOut spokesperson.听

Paid apps defend advertising

The paid mental health app Headspace also defended their targeted advertising practices.听

“Like most apps, Headspace advertises on select social media platforms like Meta, Snap, and TikTok with the goal of helping people get connected to mental health and mindfulness support,” says a Headspace spokesperson.听

“We are not a data broker, meaning we don’t sell data for money. The limited data we share with third parties includes safeguards, such as encryption or hashing. We also limit data sharing to only what is necessary to enable our advertising, and exclude health information.”聽

We also sent questions to the paid mental health therapy platform Betterhelp, who did not respond.

Overwhelmed by options

Targeted mental health advertising may have its place, but with so much of it popping up on social media without firm regulations in place, it seems likely that its potentially harmful effects are not well understood.

Anna Brooke, chief research officer at Lifeline Australia, says there is research to show that in times of distress people needing help can face a kind of paralysis when overwhelmed by too many decisions and options.听

“Having options can be a good thing, because it gives people choice, but then there are a lot of services out there that might not be of a good quality and people might have too many options to actually make a decision in times of needing help,” she says.听

If you or anyone you know needs support: contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or at , or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636 or at .

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In April last year, a virtual banner promoting a wagering company ran across the television screens of people watching an AFL match on Foxtel and the Foxtel-owned Kayo. It did not include a responsible gambling message as required for gambling promotion content under the industry’s codes of practice.

A tranche of correspondence between the regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), and Foxtel shows the broadcaster sought to argue that a responsible gambling message was not required because the ad did not include a direct prompt to bet.听

Under Freedom of Information laws, 糖心Vlog obtained 14 documents from ACMA relating to correspondence between the regulator and Foxtel, which was a combined 64 pages. Two further documents were withheld because they showed the “deliberative process” of a government agency, one of the exemptions under the FOI Act. The name of the wagering company has been redacted in the documents.听

A prominent gambling reform advocate along with one of Australia’s top academics in the field of gambling have been critical of the broadcaster and of ACMA’s process in handling the breach.

The word that had ACMA reaching for a dictionary

At the heart of the matter was what constitutes ‘promotional’ content.

After ACMA initially wrote to Foxtel with the complaint that had come from a member of the public, Foxtel argued that the ad did not fall within the definition of ‘gambling promotion content’ as that term is defined in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992.听

“It did not encourage or direct persons to use a gambling service, or to open an account for a gambling service or to download a gambling service,” the broadcaster said.

In later documents, ACMA cited the Macquarie Dictionary to justify why the ad was ‘promotion content’.听

“‘Promotional’ is not defined in the Code, and therefore is to be given its natural and ordinary meaning having regard to the context in which it is used. The Macquarie Dictionary defines ‘promotion’ as including an ‘activity, especially in advertising, designed to increase public awareness of, and hence the sales of a product’,” ACMA wrote.听

The virtual banner contained an ’18+’ logo, but ACMA said this did not constitute the necessary responsible gambling message.

ACMA ultimately found the ad placed the broadcaster in breach of the ASTRA Subscription Broadcast Television Codes of Practice 2013 (the Code).听

No financial penalties available聽

Ultimately, ACMA’s action against Foxtel for breaching the Code was a press release naming Foxtel as in breach and announcing that the broadcaster had agreed to provide extra training to staff around the regulations.听

The broadcaster also agreed to report back to ACMA on all steps taken to ensure the breach was not repeated.听

ACMA tells 糖心Vlog that enforcement actions available for breaches such as these include informally agreeing to remedial measures, court-enforceable undertakings by the broadcaster, or imposing licence conditions on the broadcaster. It is not empowered to set a financial penalty for broadcasting breaches.听聽

“We adopt a graduated and strategic risk-based approach to compliance and enforcement. The ACMA took into account the steps that Foxtel had already taken to mitigate reoccurrence of this issue, including amending the advertising creative shortly after receiving the first correspondence from the ACMA,” an ACMA spokesperson tells us.听

The documents also reveal that Foxtel has appointed an auditor in response to a separate ACMA investigation into compliance, though details of this were not disclosed.听

“More broadly, the ACMA is aware of the range of current actions that Foxtel/Hubbl Pty Limited is undertaking to address the recommendations made by its auditor Janez Media (following a separate investigation into compliance with the Online Rules),” ACMA says in the Freedom of Information documents.听

‘Weak regulations, weaker enforcement’聽

Charles Livingstone, head of Monash University’s Gambling and Social Determinants Unit, likened Foxtel’s initial excuse for the breach to a “ridiculous schoolboy’s excuse for late homework”.听

“It wasn’t a serious response. It seems to me that Foxtel doesn’t take it seriously,” he says. “The regulations themselves are fairly weak, but their enforcement appears to be even weaker.”聽

Foxtel given embargoed press release

The emails we obtained showed that ACMA sent an embargoed copy of the press release announcing the code breach to Foxtel three days before it was published in March this year.听

During the banking royal commission, the corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), was criticised by Commissioner Kenneth Hayne for sending press releases to the big banks before announcing sanctions.听

Commissioner Haynes argued that despite ASIC’s insistence it was only asking banks to check the accuracy of the media releases, ASIC should be confident of what it was alleging and not provide banks with opportunities to correct the releases or have advance notice.

Martin Thomas, CEO of the Alliance for Gambling Reform, says ACMA must do better at being a trusted regulator.听

“It is alarming. The prime purpose of ACMA is to enforce the code and protect the public. By sharing media releases it, at the very least, has an appearance of a cosy relationship with the industry, and appearances are just as important as reality,” he says.听

ACMA defends its process

ACMA says it “strongly rejects” any accusation of a cosy relationship between it and the broadcasting industry.听

“The ACMA considers the practice of providing regulated entities with advance copies of media releases shortly before publication to be consistent with the position set out in our Regulatory Guide No 6 and with the law, including the legal principle of procedural fairness,” the spokesperson says. “We consider this is also consistent with the approach taken by other regulatory agencies.” 聽

In its response to 糖心Vlog, the regulator says it would only consider making changes to media releases “which go to the accuracy of the facts contained in the release”. In this instance there were no changes requested by Foxtel and the embargoed copy has the same text as the final media release that was made public.听

Foxtel did not respond to requests for a comment.

Federal Minister for Communications Anika Wells did not respond to 糖心Vlog requests for a comment on whether ACMA has acted appropriately in this instance, or if and when the government’s long-stalled plan to reform gambling advertising rules would be placed back on the agenda.听

Livingstone hopes that any gambling advertisement reforms include stricter sanctions for breaches like these.听

“We need a fairly strict code of practice which is properly enforced, with financial penalties,” he says.听

“Until it does happen, then we can’t be confident that these operators aren’t simply going to push the boundaries as far as they can and beyond them.”

For help with gambling: Contact Gambling Help Online at 1800 858 858 or .

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Whether or not you’ve heard of “B Corps” before, you’ve probably been exposed to their marketing and labelling, even subconsciously.听

The recognisable ‘B’ inside a circle is present in the advertising and imagery of the more than 9500 registered B Corp聽businesses聽around the world across over 160 different industries.听

More than 750 of the growing number of these registered B Corps are in Australia and New Zealand.

The certification scheme, which started in 2006, promotes registered businesses as being committed to “Benefit for all” and certifies them as socially and environmentally conscious enterprises based on a complex points-based ranking system.

But critics of the scheme say the bar is too low for certification, its regulations are too vague and lax, and that the B logo is being used by big for-profit聽businesses聽as a greenwashing exercise.听

“If we’re looking for systematic change and radical change and we want consumers to be able to identify good聽businesses聽from bad, then we need better systems, we need better certification programs,” says Michael O’Regan from Glasgow Caledonian University’s School of Business and Society.听聽

How do B Corps work?聽

For-profit businesses seeking B Corp certification do so through an organisation called B Lab, which, for a fee, certifies them as B Corp-compliant.听

Businesses rank themselves on a series of metrics across social, environmental and governance criteria and are given a score based on these self-appraisals. They must reach an overall 80 points to be eligible for B Corp certification. B Lab says the median score for an ordinary business is 50 points.听

B Lab checks that the businesses have accurately portrayed their social and environmental credentials, and then certifies them.听

The fee to become a B Corp varies based on the size of the business, with certification fees in Australia starting at a $1750 one-off fee or a $2500 annual fee for businesses with revenue of under $2 million. For businesses with revenue over $1 billion, the annual fee goes up to $82,800.

B Lab Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand (B Lab AANZ) brought in almost $6 million in operating revenue last financial year, $3.3 million of which was spent on operating expenses, and a further $2 million of which was paid to B Lab’s umbrella organisation, B Global Network.

Good intentions, big criticisms聽

O’Regan has been studying and writing about the B Corp movement for several years.听

While he doesn’t doubt the good intentions behind the scheme, O’Regan believes the certification standards aren’t rigorous enough and that some businesses are using the scheme to ethically-wash and greenwash their brands.听

“There’s a lot of wild and exaggerated claims as to what B Corp is actually doing for a company,” he says.听

O’Regan says B Corps often get away with focusing on low-hanging fruit, such as making their offices more environmentally friendly, while ignoring things like human rights abuses in their supply chains.听

“It is giving consumers a false confidence that they are making better choices in their purchasing decisions,” he says.

Those guys are a B Corp?聽

MoneyMe is a provider of personal loans, car loans and credit cards “with a B Corp difference”.听

The company, which scored 91.2 on B Corp’s rating system, says “we care deeply about people and the planet, and we believe that accountability and transparency are key to ensuring we have a positive impact on the community at large”.听

But financial counsellor Deb Shroot from Financial Counselling Australia (FCA) says the company is “very problematic”. FCA has documented stories of MoneyMe offering promotions to customers, encouraging them to take out further loans that they would likely struggle to pay back. FCA also says the company’s approach to pursuing debts from vulnerable people is often inconsistent with their hardship policies and from case to case.听

“The volume [of] complaints about MoneyMe [that] come in, they’re not demonstrating behaviour that’s respectful and fair to their customers through the practices that we’re seeing,” Shroot says.听

A MoneyMe representative told 糖心Vlog that the company “adheres to the goals of the B Corp movement by prioritising social responsibility, stakeholder impact, and transparency.”

“We take a sympathetic and respectful approach to customers experiencing financial or other difficulty, and we have well-documented policies and procedures in relation to hardship,” the representative said in a statement.听

“This includes special procedures to deal with customers who are in a position of vulnerability, to ensure we treat them in a way that does not compound the difficulties they are experiencing.”聽

Former B Corp company not happy聽

Criticism of the B Corp system has also come from a former B Corp-certified business.

Dr Bronner claims to be the highest selling natural soap brand in North America and the B Corp business with the highest ranking score in the world. The company announced in early 2025 that it was pulling out of the scheme because of the scheme’s low standards and B Lab’s decision to give certification to certain multinational companies.听

“The increasing certification of multinationals including Unilever Australia and Nespresso in 2022, followed by Nestl茅聽Health Sciences in 2023, demonstrated that B Lab is not committed to protecting the integrity of the B Corp Certification and movement, nor ensuring that the certification won’t be used to mislead consumers,” Dr Bronner said in a statement.听

“Sharing the same logo and messaging regarding being of ‘benefit’ to the world with large multinational companies with a history of serious ecological and labour issues, and no comprehensive or credible eco-social certification of supply chains, is unacceptable to us,” it added. 聽

Unilever ANZ received a B Corp certification score of 82.7 and Nespresso, despite its well-documented issues with child labour and human rights abuses in its supply chains, received a score of 84.3.听

B Lab responds聽

CEO of B Lab (AANZ) Andrew Davies says B Lab’s decision to certify big multinational corporations hasn’t compromised the integrity of the scheme.听

“We made a decision a while ago that in order for us to drive change in the wider economy, we need to work with bigger businesses as well. We’ve had to build far more comprehensive standards and processes for those bigger businesses, and that’s been a big theme of our work,” he tells 糖心Vlog.听

“There is a tension, it would be silly not to acknowledge that. That tension is an important one to work with because if we’re going to change the way the world works and the kind of harm that’s done by business, you’ve got to deal with both big and small,” Davies says.听

“I think if you look for businesses that have a B Corp certification to be perfect, then you’re holding them to the wrong standard, it’s about a willingness to be accountable,” he adds.听

B Lab was keen to highlight the work of companies like toilet paper sellers Who Gives A Crap in Australia, which donate 50% of its profits to clean water and sanitation not-for-profit organisations around the world.听

Chia Sisters, another company put forward as a positive example by B Lab, is a New Zealand-based health drinks and breakfast company that sells into Australia. Co-Founder Chloe Van Dyke says B Corp certification has become part of its brand in markets where sustainability is a growing expectation.听聽

“We wanted an external framework to test and challenge our business. We’d always prioritised sustainability and social impact, but B Corp gave us a structured way to see where we were strong and where we could improve,” she says.

Regulation key to improving outcomes聽

B Corp has recently moved to update and strengthen its certification criteria. By 2026 all聽businesses聽applying for new certification or undergoing their three-year renewal process will be assessed by an independent third-party, not B Lab itself. The move, Davies acknowledges, is in part in response to changes of the law in Europe and in part due to “growing expectations that the certifications themselves need to stack up to expectations of what good looks like”.听

The European Union has introduced new stricter rules around green claims made on products and their certification. Michael O’Regan says B Corp’s old standards may have fallen foul of the EU’s new regulatory regime had they not updated and strengthened their procedures.听

“The fact that these directives from the EU are far stronger than anything B Corp has done registering almost 10,000 businesses, shows that regulation in this space is part of the solution,” he says.听

Andrew Hughes, a lecturer in marketing at the Australian National University, agrees that, closer to home, consumers are increasingly looking to make ethical choices 鈥� and poor certification schemes, along with the sheer volume of them, may hinder their ability to do so.听

“Ultimately we need someone like the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to be regulating these schemes and policing them, because as we have seen, time and time again, leaving it up to these schemes to certify themselves privately doesn’t guarantee ethical outcomes,” he says.听

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Nearly eight out of 10 Australians check to see if the canned tuna they buy is labeled as sustainable. But new research suggests the claims of many brands are not backed by credible evidence.

A report released earlier this month, Greenwashing in the Tuna Industry, rates the claims of 14 popular canned tuna brands against the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC’s) greenwashing guidelines. The claims of many brands fall short on credibility.听

The research was conducted by the University of Tasmania (UTAS) and commissioned by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).听

‘Greenwashing’ is when a company markets its products or services as more environmentally friendly than they actually are, a practice that’s rife across many industries.听

To help stamp it out, the ACCC published its Principles for Environmental Claims guide for businesses in December 2023. They’re based on eight basic principles:聽

1. Make accurate and truthful claims.

2. Have evidence to back up claims.

3. Do not hide or omit important information.

4. Explain any conditions or qualifications on claims.*

5. Avoid broad and unqualified claims.

6. Use clear and easy-to-understand language.

7. Ensure visual elements do not give the wrong impression.

8. Be direct and open about sustainability transitions.听

_{* Principle number four was not applied to the MSC report’s scoring}

Brands failing to back up claims

The UTAS researchers found that many commonly-bought brands didn’t adequately support their sustainability claims, with some failing dismally.听

Six of the 14 brands 鈥� Aldi, Woolworths, Greenseas, Community Co., Fish4Ever and Black & Gold 鈥� scored less than 2.5 on a scale of 5.

At the upper end of the spectrum, John West performed best in the credibility stakes, followed by Coles, The Stock Merchant, Little Tuna, Walker’s Tuna and Safcol.

In a statement accompanying the release of the report, the MSC didn’t mince words.听

“Brands generally lacked sufficient evidence to support their environmental claims. There were widespread issues with omitting key information, and broad, unqualified claims were common.”

Call for third-party verification

The big takeaway from the report is that third-party certification by organisations such as the MSC is critical, if claims are to be believed by shoppers. The brands that scored the highest for credible claims in the research are all MSC-certified.听

Anne Gabriel, the MSC program director for Oceania and Singapore, tells 糖心Vlog that the shortcomings of self-certification are well known.

“None of this really comes as a surprise. The process and outcome of the study is just kind of underpinning some of the thoughts and perceptions that we’ve already had,” she says.

The lead UTAS researcher, Associate Professor Dan Daugaard, says: “Our analysis shows that independent certification isn’t just helpful 鈥� it’s essential. Brands with verified claims are more aligned with regulatory standards and far more likely to win consumer trust.”

A high bar for MSC certification聽

Gabriel says fisheries go through 12 to 16 months of independent monitoring and assessment to achieve MSC certification, and the certification covers other players in the supply chain such as processors, traders, various middlemen and the canned tuna brands themselves.听

“There’s a really high bar and a high benchmark, so we know that as long as that fishery is MSC-certified, we can put our hand in our heart and say it’s absolutely sustainable,” says Gabriel. “While the MSC blue fish tick is a simple looking label on a tuna can, I can tell you that the process behind it is far from simple.”聽

The MSC has a presence in 63 countries and is involved in 716 fisheries, 572 of which are certified. In 2023鈥�24, about 15.5 million tonnes of marine life was caught under MSC guidelines, including about half of the commercial tuna catch around the world, around 2.8 million tonnes.

Other seafood certification schemes operating in Australia include the Aquaculture Stewardship Council and Best Aquaculture Practices, both of which authorise certification labels for approved products.听

Although neither MSC or UTAS are accusing non-MSC certified brands of greenwashing, Gabriel says greenwashing is always a possibility with self-produced ecolabels that lack third-party verification. All the non-MSC brands that were evaluated make environmental claims of their own.听

“Without the independent verification, consumers just can’t know if the tuna comes from healthy, responsibly managed fisheries,” Gabriel says.

“Unsubstantiated claims don’t just undermine consumer trust and integrity, they also undermine all the positive sustainability work being done.”聽

Only 15% looking for verified claims聽

The canned tuna industry has come a long way toward greater sustainability in recent years. In 2014, around 14% of tuna brands around the world had MSC certification. That’s now up to around 54%, but the expansion of the program doesn’t necessarily mean consumers are making more informed decisions when buying tuna.听 聽

The UTAS research revealed that only 15% of shoppers in Australia look for independently verified canned tuna labels. Instead, many may be reassured by labels that make general claims such as responsibly caught or responsibly sourced, or by opaque language that merely suggests sustainability.听

“I think this is because a shopper has so little time to be verifying, and they can’t tell the difference between third-party certification claims and self-certification claims,” Gabriel says.听聽

At the same time, MSC research shows that Australian shoppers would choose third-party verification if they knew how to identify it.

Some brands ‘way out in front’聽

Dan Daugaard of UTAS says the ACCC guidelines have an important role to play, given the inconsistency in canned tuna claims that emerged during the research.听

“Some of the brands are way out in front. They’ve got QR codes and URL addresses so you can see what is actually supporting their claims, even down to supply chain tracking through their websites. But there’s a bunch that aren’t close to that yet. What surprises me is the variety of brands getting on board or not.”聽

This doesn’t necessarily mean claims should be standardised; they just need to be clear and credible on their own terms, Dauggard says.听聽

“What we’ve done is tested the extent to which consumers should be confident about the message being presented to them and whether the information is clear and accessible. We checked whether brands are clearly explaining what the certification means, so that you don’t just put a stamp on the can, you actually guide and inform the consumer.”聽

But even the brands with clear and credible explanations of sustainability practices failed to adequately communicate future plans toward improving them (ACCC principle number eight). Dauggard says this level of transparency remains aspirational at the moment, but that could change.

“There is likely to be demand from consumers to see a brand’s future direction in terms of its sustainability practices, including the things you are not yet achieving, and that element was missing from all the brands we reviewed.”聽

Greenwashing hard to define聽

An ACCC spokesperson tells 糖心Vlog that making a case for greenwashing depends on many factors.

“When deciding if conduct is misleading or deceptive, or if a representation is false or misleading, it is necessary to consider whether the overall impression created would be misleading to the ordinary and reasonable consumer,” the spokesperson says.听

And while businesses are not required to disclose information under consumer law, “the omission of relevant information can in some circumstances be misleading or deceptive”.

When businesses make environmental claims, “the courts will factor in a range of circumstances” to determine whether greenwashing has occurred.听

Something to celebrate聽

Anne Gabriel of the MSC is upbeat about the canned tuna industry’s willingness to commit to third-party verification of sustainability claims, but it won’t happen overnight.听

“Over the past twelve months, we have seen so many brands come on board to MSC certification. That is an extraordinary development and something to celebrate,” says Gabriel.听

And whether or not shoppers are choosing independently verified claims, the increase in brands committing to them can only be good for fisheries around the world, she says.听

“Consumer choices absolutely drive positive change in fishing practices, and we’ve seen this all around the world,” says Gabriel. “The more consumers choose products that are certified, the stronger the market incentive is for fisheries to adopt sustainable practices and seek certification.”聽

Dan Daugaard of UTAS believes that, despite the general absence of independent certification, the ACCC guidelines could pave the way forward.听

“There is such a range in the credibility of the claims, but I am encouraged by the impact that I think the ACCC guidelines are having in getting these discussions happening out in the marketplace,” he says. “I am seeing evidence of brands changing and jumping on board. I’m encouraged at the momentum that’s been building around these guidelines.”

The post Can you trust canned tuna sustainability claims?聽 appeared first on 糖心Vlog.

Shelves lined with colourful specials tags are a common sight greeting shoppers at major Australian chemist chains.

But new data suggests these labels are confusing consumers and leading them to overestimate the savings they offer.

糖心Vlog has been getting feedback from Australians on the specials labels Chemist Warehouse, Terry White and Priceline put on their shelves.

A sizeable portion of consumers we surveyed could not easily tell if these tags represented a discount.

Those that did believe they signalled savings tended to overestimate the discounts on offer.

Many thought the specials were providing a discount on prices that pharmacies may never have actually sold the products for in the first place.

Promotional tags not so special

“We regularly hear from consumers who are frustrated by how prices are displayed at many major pharmacies,” says聽senior campaigns and policy adviser at 糖心Vlog Bea Sherwood.

“Discounts are everywhere you go in pharmacies,” she adds. “Walking down the aisles, you’re bombarded by yellow and pink sales tags.”

Many of the tags seen by 糖心Vlog were placed on top of a product’s usual shelf price.

Some display a new price for the product, while others simply draw attention to the existing price with bright colours and phrases proclaiming value for money.

Consumers quizzed on specials

To see how these promotions might be influencing consumers, 糖心Vlog showed over 1000 Australians* photos of promotional tags displayed in Chemist Warehouse, Terry White and Priceline stores.

The photos depicted the promotions as they were found in outlets around Sydney in November last year.

In the cases of Chemist Warehouse and Terry White, the promotions were often covering the shelf sticker showing the price the product is usually sold for and proclaiming a new ‘special’ rate.

The tags contrasted this promotional rate with a figure they said was the product’s recommended retail price (RRP), in order to highlight a dollar-value saving available to shoppers.

Tags at Priceline, meanwhile, didn’t claim a specific discount amount, but drew attention to a product’s going rate with phrases such as “Great value” and “Lower prices”.

Specials causing consumer confusion

We asked the consumers we surveyed whether they believed the tags represented a discount on a product’s usual price and how easy it was to ascertain this.

“One of the most striking results was that roughly a third of respondents across the labels we tested either were not able to quickly and easily determine if the product was discounted or weren’t sure if it was discounted at all,” says Sherwood.

“That is a real concern, as discounts should be clear and transparent, not confusing. Clear discounts help shoppers know if they’re really getting a good deal.”

Chemist Warehouse and Terry White didn’t respond when asked if they wanted to comment on suggestions their specials are confusing.听

Priceline told 糖心Vlog one of its labels (“Love Lower Prices”) did represent a discount, but another (“Great Value”) didn’t.

Consumers overestimating discounts

Respondents who believed the prices on promotional tags represented a saving on the product’s usual price were asked how much they thought the discount was worth.

In most cases, respondents used the RRP listed on the tag to calculate how much they were saving by buying the product being promoted.

For example, respondents were shown a photo of a tag accompanying a tube of toothpaste being sold at a Terry White store.

The tag listed the product’s $6 price as a discount from its RRP of $11.99, and 71% of survey respondents agreed the sticker represented a $5.99 saving on the product’s usual price.

However, lifting the tag revealed the usual shelf price for this product didn’t match the RRP.

Rather, it was $8.99 鈥� Terry White later confirmed to 糖心Vlog that the toothpaste hadn’t been sold at the store where we took the photo at the RRP rate mentioned on the tag.

In fact, in all the examples we found of pharmacies using RRPs to advertise savings, these prices were more expensive than the usual shelf listings beneath or beside the tags.

What does the RRP at a pharmacy actually mean?

Information provided by Chemist Warehouse and Terry White suggests many of the RRPs these retailers display are prices that consumers may never actually have to pay.

Terry White told us the RRPs mentioned on its tags are prices given to it by the suppliers of those items and aren’t meant to reference a price the products were previously sold for by that store.

Chemist Warehouse didn’t respond to our question about whether the products we found were ever sold for their listed RRPs. But on its website, the retailer says RRPs listed in savings comparisons online are usually a supplier’s recommended price.

The company says it only displays these RRPs if the product was sold at or above that price in at least 5% of transactions across most major and independent pharmacies in Australia in the last two months.

Chemist Warehouse says it monitors transactions by looking at Australian Pharmacy Transaction data provided by IQVIA, a global healthcare data technology company.

RRP practice ‘potentially misleading’

The ACCC says a price display can be misleading if it’s being compared to an RRP that the product was never sold at, or wasn’t sold at for a reasonable time.

With over half of survey respondents regularly referring to RRPs when calculating the value of pharmacy promotions, Sherwood says many consumers may be overestimating the value of deals on offer.

“If the pharmacies have never offered those products at that RRP, it could be potentially misleading to refer to a dollar-value reduction from the RRP as the selling point of the discount,” she explains.

“This practice might make a consumer more likely to think that a product is good value, when in fact the savings may be much smaller than they appear. Consumers could end up purchasing more than they need or not bothering to compare prices with other retailers.”

Chemist Warehouse and Terry White didn’t respond when asked if they wanted to comment on suggestions their promotions are potentially misleading.听

Terry White didn’t directly address the comments, but has previously told 糖心Vlog it lists supplier-provided RRPs in order to provide a reference for savings calculations in instances where pricing is varied across its network of pharmacies.

How to check if a pharmacy discount is a good deal

When presented with a pharmacy special claiming to shave a certain amount off your shop, don’t just rely on the advertised RRP when appraising these deals.

Look beneath the special tag for the usual shelf price to see what the reduction on the usual product price at that store is 鈥� this will tell you if the deal is worth taking advantage of by buying multiple units, for example.

It also pays to compare the price a pharmacy is advertising with the going rate for the same product at other outlets and look at unit pricing to see where you could be getting better value across brands and pack sizes.

_{*糖心Vlog Consumer Pulse January 2025 is based on an online survey designed and analysed by 糖心Vlog. 1,077 Australian households responded to the survey with quotas applied to ensure coverage across all age groups, genders and locations in each state and territory across metropolitan and regional areas. The data was weighted to ensure it is representative of the Australian population based on the 2021 ABS Census data. Fieldwork was conducted from the 14th of January to the 31st, 2025.}

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