There's been some heated public debates between competing brands. The latest two companies to join the feuding? Ice cream giants Haagen-Dazs and Ben and Jerry's. To pay for the high costs of natural and top-quality ingredients, Haagen-Dazs has reduced the size of its pints from 16 to 14 ounces. Despite the decrease in packaging, Haagen-Dazs still calls its container a "pint." Ben and Jerry's is highly offended by this "downright wrong" move, and pledged, in a statement, to provide consumers the same quantity and quality in its product:
One of our competitors (think funny-sounding European name) recently announced they will be downsizing their pints from 16 to 14 ounces to cover increased ingredient and manufacturing costs and help improve their bottom line. We understand that in today's hard economic times businesses are feeling the pinch. We also understand that many of you are also feeling the same, and think now more than ever you deserve your full pint of ice cream.
While I understand that many brands are shrinking their products, I have to side with Ben and Jerry's; it's not fair to call something a pint when it's not one. How do you feel about the debate?
Milly
Henrik Vibskov
Geox
i love both of them and Mackies and Nardinis!c they are all the best!
1I don't like that they would mislead people like that. But then again I think its funny that people will notice a price increase almost all the time, but most don't notice size decreases (thats how so many companies get away this doing it. Especially if you are still labeling something the same way!)
2Haagen-Dazs...not cool man, not cool.
It's crummy and sneaky, but not surprising... I don't eat their ice cream anyway, I'm a Ben and Jerry's girl all the way.
3Booooo! Ah well I don't buy either brand anyways.
416 oz is a pint. 14 oz is not. Booo Haagen-Dazs.
Good thing I'm a Ben & Jerry's girl anyway, but I do like some Haagen-Dazs sorbet every now and then. *sigh*
5I can't believe that they are legally allowed to call it a pint @ 14 ounces. That's false advertising, isn't it? I notice that Breyer's ice cream that was once a 1/2 gallon is down to a quart & a 1/2, too.
6Thank goodness Ben and Jerry's is sticking to their guns. Haagen Dazs is not the first to downsize. You can hardly find a real quart of ice cream any more. The dirty secret is they shrink the package size, but keep the price the same. And word is that even once the economy turns around, they will stick with the smaller sizes because we have become used to them.
I'll say, though, that to save money, buying a whole almost-quart of ice cream is still cheaper than 2 scoops when eating out. Here's to staying in and eating out of the tub!
7Yet another argument against volumetric measurement in favor of true mass. HD is significantly denser, so it takes a lot less volume to satisfy a craving.
8Good for B&J's!
9i can totally understand why they are making a smaller size, however it's 100% wrong to call it a pint if it's not officially a pint. call it a smaller size or something - just don't lie about it.
10WTH? 16 ounces is a pint, 14 ounces is NOT a pint. If you're going to downsize your product, just admit it and label your product accordingly. Can't wait until food that's 14 ounces by weight is still called a "pound". Gotta love those sneaky advertisers and food manufacturers.
11If HD get away with calling 14 ounces a pint now, one day in the distant future, they'll sell 10 ounces in the same size of package and still call it a pint!
That's a very bad case of misleading the consumers.
12Ooh, if fourteen ounces is a pound then suddenly I'm 20 pounds heavier....
13My favorite:
Haagen-Dazs dulce de leche Light.s
Unfortunatly, Haagen-Daz discontinued the "Light" versions of their creamy, delicious concoctions. So now buy my second favorite brand, Blue Bell Ice Cream.I was never really fancied Ben & Jerrys.
For shame on Haagen-Dazs for discontinuing the "Light" version, the only flavored ice cream I ate religously.
14Suziryder, I'm a Ben and Jerry's girl too!
15I love the sorbets by Haagen-Dasz, but as far as ice cream goes I dig Ben and Jerry's. And I agree, a pint is a pint. Don't mess with the measurements!
16hmmm... not very nice, but not a huge deal
17I can't say I'm surprised at all -- look at pasta and coffee; with some brands you grab a package thinking you're getting a pound only to find there is 12-14 ozs. I'm glad Ben and Jerry's is taking the high road though; it shouldn't be called a pint if it doesn't have 16 ozs.
18with or without the 2 extra ounces, that's going to do little to stop my from buying HD's coffee ice cream. And since i can eat a whole "pint" in one sitting that's 2 ounces of extra fat grams I'm not getting.
19What a joke and poor decision by HD. I remember when Dreyer's (Edy's) stopped making half gallons. I worked at a grocery store at the time and either people were furious or they didn't even notice!! It looks like now people have accepted it and have moved on. Perhaps the same thing will happen for HD, but I certainly won't be buying theirs unless they have some flavor I just have to try. It's hard not to notice when the product is small to begin with. Frito Lay put around 2 ounces less of product in their Doritos and Lays a couple years ago and no one really noticed that either because the bag size was same with just less product more air. Next time you shop take notice of the size of the product and you will notice that many companies are doing it. oh yeah... Pampers and Huggies put less diapers in their packages now too...
20Ben and Jerry's all the way now!!
21super pissed about the pint to 14oz switch F that! bump up the price, fine i'll pay. but what i wont do is buy 14oz when i want a PINT of ice cream! bad move.
22I just noticed this 5 minutes ago. How sleezy of them! Good for B&J for sticking in there during rough times and not trying to cheat us out of 2 measly ounces!
23Ben and Jerry's played their own game with consumers by altering their recipe from milk, cream, eggs, sugar to an amalgam of unpronounceable ingredients. On top of that, the ice cream is now "fluffy" because more air is mixed in. Before the company was sold, their ice cream was incredibly dense--a real treat. Now it's not that much different that all of the other (much cheaper) ice cream on the market.
24haagen daz is effing messed up! but you know what? i noticed right away when i had my pint of haagen daz today that they decreased their pint size while keeping the price the same and i'm never going back to haagen daz. good job haagen daz you lost one customer.
25I don't care how they change the packaging, I will never give up HD Pralines & Cream!!!
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