Texas Man Sues Cinemark For Shortchanging Customers on Largest Drink Sizes

Shrinkflation has been making headlines over the past months, and now a Texas man has hit Cinemark with a proposed class action accusing the movie theater chain of duping customers on concessions. The suit claims that Cinemark’s 24-ounce cups aren’t true to size and were falling short of the promised amount. Cinemark is also accused of deception in its “systemic packaging and pricing practice.”

Concessions are a major part of a movie theater’s business and for Cinemark, the concession revenue climbed to $243 million in the latest reported quarter despite a drop in attendance, CNN reported. Furthermore, Cinemark’s reported concession revenue for 2023 exceeded the total revenue of 2019 by 3%.

How is Cinemark Duping Customers?

The lead plaintiff, Shane Waldrop, ordered a 24-ounce beer from a Texas Cinemark theater on Valentine’s Day this year. However, when Waldrop received his order, he observed that the largest container of Cinemark did not seem large enough to hold 24 ounces of liquid. Waldrop then took the container home and measured it and he found out that the container only held 22 ounces, as per the lawsuit.

A 20-ounce drink at the Plano, Texas, Cinemark theater, the one Waldrop visited costs $7.80 pre-tax, while the 24-ounce drink costs $8.80, just $1 more.

“The 24 oz drink should provide a deal for consumers over the 20 oz drink’s price: $0.37 per ounce vs. $0.39 per ounce,” the lawsuit said as per CNN. However, due to the actual volume of 22 oz, the larger drink cost $0.40 per ounce making it more expensive and not a deal at all, the lawsuit claimed. The suit, however, doesn’t mention whether the 20-ounce cup can hold that volume of liquid either.

What is Cinemark Accused of?

Among the core allegations, the class action brings claims for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, and a violation of Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The suit is seeking a court order to bar further misrepresentations and disgorgement of profits. Demanding a trial by jury, the lawyers for Waldrop also seek to represent other purchasers of the 24-ounce drink from Cinemark.

Shrinkflation Has Hit Americans Hard

During high inflation, some companies either choose to hike their prices to cope with the rising costs, or ‘shrink’ their products to smaller sizes to keep prices the same. The latter practice has been named ‘shrinkflation’ and consumers, and democrats are trying to stop it.

Earlier, Democratic Senator Bob Casey released four reports highlighting how shrinkflation has impacted several popular products. Using Labor Department data, he has cited the examples of a 5% decrease in the size of a Doritos package, a 12% decrease in Wheat Thins, a 6% decrease in Oreos by weight, and a whopping 28% decrease in Great Value Ultra Strong Toilet Paper. Even the famous Sesame Street character, the Cookie Monster was bothered by it as the size of cookies was shrinking.

Thus, Sen. Casey, along with several others, introduced the Shrinkflation Prevention Act to prevent companies from reducing the price gouging practice which was also called out by President Joe Biden in his Superbowl commercial.