Fudgsicle Box Holds Memorial For Two Missing Pops

CINCINNATI, Ohio—Eighteen chocolate pops gathered in the newest Fudgsicle box Saturday for a brief service honoring the two pops that, according to a Consumer World shrinkflation report cited by WCPO, are no longer in the box. The box used to hold 20.

The service began at 9 a.m. in a fictional household freezer (door 3, behind the peas). Two slots in the center of the box were left open. Nobody had to be asked.

"We came up together on the same production line," said a fictional Fudgsicle in position 8, speaking through a light frost. "Then one day we were 18. Nobody sent a memo. You just notice the extra room."

We came up together on the same production line…

Celeste Abernathy counted the box twice, then had the Judge weigh it. (I weighed it: the box was lighter than the last one I bought, by roughly the weight of two pops and one shared assumption.) She read the ingredient list aloud, in order, to the remaining pops. They did not respond. They are frozen desserts.

Pops Per Box, A Brief History

Old box	20
New box	18
Pops at the service	18
Pops who spoke	1

Source: Source: Consumer World via WCPO for the first two bars; The Daily SKU CPG Desk for the rest. Fictional. The Judge weighed the silence at 0.0 grams.

Fudgsicle is not alone. Consumer World's 2026 list, as reported by WCPO, includes Cheer detergent going from 92 ounces to 81, Welch's grape jam going from 32 ounces to 30, Lucky Charms family size falling from 20 ounces to 18.6, Hershey's Kisses Special Dark going from 10 ounces to 8.7, and Ziploc one-gallon freezer bags going from 152 per box to 136. Edgar Dworsky, the site's founder, told the station that companies may shrink packages instead of raising the sticker price because shoppers notice price increases.

In the freezer, the remaining pops were briefed on that context by a fictional box of Ziploc bags on the shelf below, which has lost 16 of its own. "You get used to it," the bags said. "Then you get used to fewer of you."

A fictional packaging consultant, Brent Loehr of Optimal Count Partners, said the two empty slots are, technically, still product. "The consumer is receiving 18 pops and two units of space," Loehr said. "Space is very premium right now. Look at real estate."

The service closed with a reading from the side panel, Nutrition Facts, Servings Per Container. The number read was 18. Several pops looked away.

Abernathy logged the count in her notebook and filed it next to the Pretzel, which waits in her bag for its December weigh-in. It has not been told about the Fudgsicles. She is not sure it needs to know.

Celeste Abernathy covers packaged goods and weighs everything first. Judge, her kitchen scale, assisted. More from Celeste Abernathy ›

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Terms in this story: Shrinkflation