Snickers fires back at Joe Biden's claim that the company is duping customers with 'shrinkflation'



Snickers is contradicting President Joe Biden's claim that the size of its candy bars are being secretly reduced.

In his State of the Union address last Thursday, Biden accused snack companies of shrinkflation, a process whereby a manufacturer includes less product in packaging while not adjusting the price.

"Look, too many corporations raise prices to pad their profits, charging more and more for less and less. That's why we’re cracking down on corporations that engage in price-gouging and deceptive pricing, from food to health care to housing," Biden said. "In fact, the snack companies think you won’t notice if they change the size of the bag and put a hell of a lot fewer — same size bag — put fewer chips in it. No, I’m not joking. It's called shrinkflation."

Biden then specifically targeted Snickers.

"You probably all saw that commercial on Snickers bars. You get charged the same amount and you got about, I don’t know, 10% fewer Snickers in it," he claimed.

— (@)

But Mars Inc., the candy company that manufactures the Snickers bar, released a statement accusing Biden of not telling the truth.

The statement read:

We have not reduced the size of Snickers singles or share size in the U.S. Like many industries, we continue to face high inflation and spikes in material costs; however, we work to absorb these extra costs wherever possible to provide affordable treats and the best value. Final prices are always at the discretion of the retailer, but we make every effort to minimize costs to provide a full range of delicious products.

Biden is targeting shrinkflation as his newest economic enemy because his narrative about inflation — that it is consistently improving and the crisis is over — collapses under scrutiny.

On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that inflation is not improving.

Inflation, in fact, rose 0.4% in February and 3.2% over the last 12 months, the BLS announced. Meanwhile, core inflation — a measure of inflation minus food and energy — also increased 3.8% over the last year.

Both metrics reflect the pocketbook squeeze that Americans continue to feel. Yes, inflation is not at 9% like it was two years ago. But the price of goods is still increasing, no matter what the president says.

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Pedophile eats poisoned Snickers bar in court as jury finds him guilty of child sex crimes involving partner's daughter



An Australian man scarfed down a poisoned Snickers bar in a courtroom at the same time as the guilty verdicts for child sex crimes were being read, according to reports.

A man was convicted of four "serious" child sex crimes that involved the daughter of his partner. The man, said to be in his mid-70s, was not named because it would allow the underaged victim to be identified.

The Canberra Times reported, "In an opening address, prosecutor Fiona Martin said it was alleged the offending took place between 1991 and 2000 while the girl was aged between four and 14 years old."

The man from the Australian city of Portland was in Warrnambool County Court in the state of Victoria on Friday. During the trial, the convicted pedophile took out a Snickers chocolate bar from his pocket.

Warrnambool Standard crime reporter Andrew Thomson noticed that the man began eating the Snickers candy bar. Thomson said a bailiff told the man that eating is prohibited in court. However, the man continued to eat the chocolate bar.

"He then told the custody staff he had poisoned himself as he had laced the chocolate bar with rat poison," Thomson wrote.

The man "remained in custody despite his declaration and later collapsed in the Warrnambool police station cells, breaking a finger," according to the Daily Mail.

The man was transported to the Warrnambool Base Hospital, where he was treated for poisoning. He spent time recovering in the hospital's intensive care unit and needed medication. The man's condition improved, and he was returned to jail.

The convicted pedophile is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 11, when he will face a preliminary sentence hearing.

Last August, a Texas man convicted of child sex abuse drank a mystery liquid that ended up being poison.

"As these verdicts were being read, he chugged a bottle of water he had at counsel table," said Denton County Assistant District Attorney Jamie Beck.

The convicted pedophile was pronounced dead at the hospital from consuming the poison. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office has determined that consuming a deadly amount of sodium nitrite was the cause of the man's death.

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​Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson admits he stole Snickers from 7-Eleven daily at age 14, says he went and bought all the Snickers 'to right this wrong'



Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson went to a 7-Eleven in Hawaii and bought all of the Snickers bars — the celebrity admitted that as a teen, he had stolen a king size Snickers bar every day for nearly a year, but claimed that he "finally got back home to right this wrong."

"I finally exorcised this d*** chocolate demon that’s been gnawing at me for decades," he wrote in an Instagram post.

"I was broke as hell, so I used to steal a king sized @snickers EVERY DAY from 7-11 for almost a year when I was 14yrs old, on my way to the gym," he noted.

"The same clerk was there every day and always just turned her head and never busted me," Johnson explained. "I've exercised a few big demons over the years (I still have a few left;) so I know this one seems VERY SILLY, but every time I come back home to Hawaii and drive by 7-11… I always knew I needed to go in and clean out every Snickers bar they had - the right way."

In a video, Johnson appeared to purchase items for other shoppers, and he indicated that he was going to leave his bag of Snickers behind, instructing the employees to give the bars to anyone who appeared to be stealing Snickers.

"And as a bonus it was a lot of fun to take care of everybody who walked into 7-11 while I was there. Least I could do considering all the s*** I used to steal from here," he wrote. "We can’t change the past and some of the dumb stuff we may have done, but every once in a while we can add a little redeeming grace note to that situation — and maybe put a big smile on some stranger's faces."

China gets fast apology after Taiwan listed among 'countries' in Snickers product launch — the latest high-profile mea culpa toward communist regime



Mars Wrigley apologized Friday for a Snickers product launch that referred the "countries" of South Korea, Malaysia, and Taiwan, Reuters reported. The sticking point is that China has long considered Taiwan part of its communist regime, while Taiwan is not of the same mind.

What are the details?

Videos and images of an event promoting a limited-edition Snickers bar said to be available only in the aforementioned places went viral on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo on Friday, the outlet added.

Mars Wrigley on its Snickers China Weibo account published an apology and said the relevant content had been amended, Reuters reported.

Chinese state news outlet the Global Times said Mars Wrigley "has verified & aligned the official site and social media accounts to ensure accurate content. Snickers owner Mars Wrigley said it respects China's [national] sovereignty and territorial integrity."

\u201cSnickers on Fri apologized for marking Taiwan island as a country, saying its local team has verified & aligned the official site and social media accounts to ensure accurate content. Snickers owner Mars Wrigley said it respects China's natl sovereignty and territorial integrity.\u201d
— Global Times (@Global Times) 1659699538

Far from the first apology to China

Mars Wrigley's apology to China was the latest in a long line of mea culpas delivered to the superpower as it continues to gain financial, cultural, and military strength:

  • John Cena — the WWE star who became an actor — was heavily criticized last year after he posted a video to Chinese social media apologizing to the Chinese people for referring to Taiwan as a "country" while promoting an installment of the "Fast & Furious" movie franchise.
  • Luxury brand Christian Dior apologized to China in 2019 for omitting Taiwan from a map used for a recruitment and internship demonstration at a Chinese college.
  • In 2019, the National Basketball Association and then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey apologized to China for Morey's now-deleted tweet expressing support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, a move that cost the team significant business partnerships in China.
  • Then-Houston Rockets star James Harden also offered an apology to China in the wake of Morey's Hong Kong support: "We apologize, you know," Harden said. "You know, we love China."
  • The Daily Mail reported that VF Corporation, which owns the North Face brand, and PVH, which owns Calvin Klein, removed statements from their websites expressing concern about human rights violations in Xinjiang after threats of getting shut out of the Chinese market.
  • Computer chip maker Intel was forced to apologize over a letter it sent to suppliers urging them not to source their products or labor from Xinjiang, the Daily Mail noted, adding that Nike and H&M faced backlash last year following statements they made about forced labor in the region.

But there are plenty of critics of those who kowtow to China. For example, "Real Time" host Bill Maher in February ripped NBA icon LeBron James, Olympian Eileen Gu, and Cena for seemingly putting profits over principles when it comes to speaking out against China's human rights abuses.

Other critics of China apologists have included sportscaster Bob Costas, CNN anchor Jake Tapper, Hollywood producer and comedian Judd Apatow, UFC star Colby Covington, and ex-NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom.

Anything else?

Meanwhile, China launched missile strikes in the Taiwan Strait on the heels of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan on Tuesday, which she said "should be seen as a strong statement that America stands with Taiwan. We came to Taiwan to listen to, learn from and show our support for the people of Taiwan, who have built a thriving Democracy that stands as one of the freest and most open in the world."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized China's missile launches as a "significant escalation," the Daily Mail reported.

NBC News reported that the rising tensions in the region look far different from a similar situation in 1995-96 when "the U.S. Navy sent warships through the Taiwan Strait and there was nothing China could do about it."

“It’s a very different situation now,” Michele Flournoy, a former undersecretary of defense for policy in the Obama administration, told NBC News. “It’s a much more contested and much more lethal environment for our forces.”

The network said Chinese President Xi Jinping now has "serious military power at his disposal, including ship-killing missiles, a massive navy and an increasingly capable air force. That new military might is changing the strategic calculus for the U.S. and Taiwan, raising the potential risks of a conflict or miscalculation, former officials and experts say."