The deception lay in the gap between what the wrapper suggested and what was inside
Bremen court ruled Mondelēz deceived consumers by cutting Alpenmilch bar weight 10% without clear wrapper changes, violating competition law. Manufacturers use shrinkflation to offset rising cocoa costs; chocolate prices rose 14.6% in a year, affecting multiple brands including Ritter Sport.
- Milka Alpenmilch bar reduced from 100g to 90g in early 2025 with virtually identical packaging
- Price increased from €1.49 to €1.99 while bar became one millimetre thinner
- Bremen regional court found Mondelēz guilty of deceptive packaging and breaking competition law
- Chocolate prices rose 14.6% in the year to August 2025 due to poor West African cocoa harvests
- Hamburg consumer group added 77 products to its 'rip-off packaging' list in 2025 alone
A German court found Milka's manufacturer guilty of 'shrinkflation' after reducing chocolate bar weight from 100g to 90g while maintaining identical packaging, misleading consumers about product size.
A court in Bremen has ruled that Mondelēz, the manufacturer of Milka chocolate, deliberately misled consumers by shrinking one of its most recognizable products while keeping the packaging virtually unchanged. The Alpenmilch bar, a staple of German grocery shelves for decades, was reduced from 100 grams to 90 grams at the start of 2025. The wrapper stayed the same shade of purple. The bar became a millimetre thinner. The price climbed from €1.49 to €1.99. To most shoppers, nothing had changed.
The three-week case was brought by Hamburg's consumer protection office, which accused the company of breaking competition law through what has become known as "shrinkflation"—cutting the size or weight of a product while maintaining its price, a tactic manufacturers have increasingly adopted as raw material costs have soared. The court agreed. It found that while the weight reduction was technically listed on the packaging, the visual appearance of the bar conveyed a false expectation to consumers who had known the product for years. The deception, the judges concluded, lay not in any single element but in the gap between what the wrapper suggested and what was actually inside.
Mondelēz had argued that it had communicated the change through its website and social media, and that rising cocoa prices in its supply chain left it no choice. The company's lawyer pointed out that chocolate bars had historically fluctuated in weight between 81 and 100 grams depending on the variety. But the court was unmoved. It ruled that to genuinely inform consumers, a "clear, understandable and easily perceptible notice" would have been required on the wrapper itself—something that went beyond the small print already there.
The verdict carries weight beyond a single chocolate bar. The judges noted there was "a risk of repetition," signaling that other manufacturers using similar tactics could face legal challenge. German consumers had already voted with their frustration: last year, the Milka Alpenmilch bar won the dubious honor of "rip-off packaging of the year 2025" in a consumer poll. The ruling is not yet final—Mondelēz has one month to appeal—but it marks a rare legal victory for consumer advocates in a practice that has become widespread across the food industry.
The shrinkflation battle extends far beyond Milka's purple wrapper. Ritter Sport, another iconic German chocolate brand, reduced the weight of three of its varieties from 100 grams to 75 grams in early May 2026, though it made the bars noticeably thinner and marketed them as a new product line. The bars still cost the same. Ritter Sport claims consumers prefer the thinner format, yet the brand still appears on the Hamburg consumer group's list of offenders. That list grew substantially in 2025 alone, with 77 products added for deceptive packaging practices. The problem extends beyond chocolate: toothpaste, oats, and instant coffee have all been subject to the same squeeze.
What makes chocolate particularly vulnerable is the scale of price inflation in the category. According to the consumer group Which?, chocolate prices rose 14.6 percent in the year to August 2025, driven by poor cocoa harvests in West Africa and the resulting spike in global commodity costs. For manufacturers caught between rising input costs and consumer resistance to higher prices, shrinkflation has become the path of least resistance. But the Bremen ruling suggests that path may be narrowing. As more consumer protection offices take manufacturers to court, and as courts begin to define what constitutes genuine transparency, the economics of the practice are shifting. The question now is whether other companies will wait for their own day in court, or whether the Milka verdict will prompt a broader reckoning with how products are presented to shoppers.
Notable Quotes
The deception lay in the discrepancy between the actual contents compared with the visually conveyed expectation of a product known to consumers for years— Bremen district court ruling
To eliminate that deception a clear, understandable and easily perceptible notice on the wrapper was necessary— Bremen district court ruling
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does it matter that the wrapper stayed the same if the weight was listed somewhere on the package?
Because most people don't read the fine print. They see a bar they've bought a hundred times, it looks the same, and they assume it is the same. The court understood that—it's about the visual promise the packaging makes, not just the technical disclosure buried in small text.
But Mondelēz said they announced it on social media and their website. Isn't that enough?
The court didn't think so. A website announcement reaches people who are already paying attention. A shopper in a supermarket aisle at 7 a.m. isn't checking social media. The ruling essentially said: if you're going to change a product people know intimately, you have to make that change impossible to miss at the point of sale.
Is this just about chocolate, or is it a bigger problem?
It's everywhere—toothpaste, coffee, oats. But chocolate is where it's most visible because the brands are so old and so trusted. When Milka shrinks, people notice. And when 77 products get flagged for deceptive packaging in a single year, you're looking at a systemic practice, not isolated incidents.
Why haven't courts done this before?
They have, in some places, but this is a landmark case in Germany. It's the first time a court has explicitly ruled that keeping the same wrapper while reducing the product inside is deceptive, even if the weight is technically disclosed. That's a new legal standard.
What happens now?
Mondelēz will likely appeal. But the ruling signals to other manufacturers that this tactic is riskier than they thought. If more courts follow Bremen's logic, the economics of shrinkflation change. You can't just quietly reduce size anymore.