After Shrinkflation, Coca-Cola's New Can Design Sparks Discussion on 'Trickflation'

Amid rising costs of living and inflation, several new terms have been coined. Terms like shrinkflation, stipulation, tipflation and more have now become common. Amid this, a Reddit user (@inasimplerhyme) posted on the forum r/mildlyinfuriating about a new term “Trickflation”. The Redditor used the new slim cans of Coca-Cola as an example to explain the term which is for tactics that are used to trick users into paying more for the same product.

How Coca-Cola is Using Trickflation

The post on Reddit featured images of two cans of Coca-Cola, each boasting 12 ounces of the drink. However, one of them was a wider shorted can which is the old can of Coca-Cola and the other one is the new can which is slimmer and taller. The Redditor claimed that while the shorter one costs $1.06, the new slim version costs upwards of $2.37 despite containing the same amount.

While the sources of the price are questionable, several users expressed their frustration with the so-called “trickflation”. One user (@aplascencia1997) shared a meme of a toddler to explain how Coca-Cola sees its customers and several users picked up on it suggesting that Coca-Cola may have hired marketers and psychologists to come up with the idea.

As Redditors expressed their anger over the whopping 123% increase in the price of a can of Coca-Cola, one user (u/Suturb-Seyekcub) suggested people that it is the perfect time to cut the sugary drink out of their life for good. To this, a user (@Healthy-Drink3247) even said that they had already quit soda because it got extremely expensive.

One user (@canadasteve04) who tried to point out that it may be just regular old inflation, got schooled. To the comment, one user (@ptvlm) explained that it would have been inflation if nothing changed about the product and the price increased. However, since the company purposefully made the can taller to fool people into thinking they’re getting more, it is ‘trickflation'.

Meanwhile, several other users had different explanations for making the cans taller and slimmer. One comment from an engineer stood out as it provided an elaborate scientific explanation behind the taller cans. The user (@Ok-Photojournalist94) explained that the taller cans are less likely to flare out during shipping which is why they are seen more overseas, and they marginally cost less to produce for the company.

The explanation was backed by users from Sweden and Germany who said that the cans had been in their countries for years. They also gave the same reasoning of better packaging and structural integrity behind the cans being taller.

This was also backed by a CNN report, which said that slimmer soda cans are gaining in popularity as manufacturers are looking for innovative ways to easily stock (and transport) more products. Thus, the slimmer cans can be better stacked for less space making transport less cumbersome.

A CNBC report also stated that the majority of Coca-Cola markets saw only a 3.5% increase in inflation for their drinks in the final quarter of 2023. Despite this, Coca-Cola’s global sales rose by 7% in the quarter while in North America its volume sales dropped by 1%.