Rep. Ilhan Omar Introduces Bill To Punish Corporations For ‘Shrinkflation’

Rep. Ilhan Omar and other progressive lawmakers say it’s time to crack down on companies for “shrinkflation.”

The Minnesota Democrat unveiled a bill Friday that would require brands to add labels to their packaging noting when they’ve reduced the amount of product a package contains but kept its price the same. She and her 14 House co-sponsors are calling the bill the “Shrinkflation Reduction Act.”

Democrats, including President Joe Biden, have been hammering companies for shrinking consumer goods like toilet paper and potato chips without lowering their cost. Manufacturers sometimes use the practice to mask price increases, since consumers are more sensitive to sticker prices.

Omar told HuffPost in a statement that it was “unacceptable that corporations are secretly downsizing their products to pad their profits.”

“This bill will shine a light on these deceptive practices and give consumers the information they need to make informed choices,” she said. “Shrinkflation is a hidden tax on working families, and it’s time we put a stop to it.”

“We must protect consumers from such deceptive practices and, at a minimum, provide enough transparency for consumers to make fully informed financial decisions when purchasing food and other household items,” she wrote.

The bill would direct the Federal Trade Commission to develop a rule requiring the labels, deeming it a “deceptive or unfair” trade practice to shrink products without informing the public. Companies that run afoul of the rule would be subject to fines.

The bill text defines shrinkflation as “the practice of downsizing, including by reducing the amount or size of, a consumer product while not decreasing the price of such product by a commensurate amount.”

Omar