- Is the Big Mac getting smaller?
- Let's talk about that.
(cheerful music)
Good Mythical Morning.
- Link, you ever heard of shrinkflation?
It has absolutely nothing to do
with any part of your body.
- I believe that it's a money-saving technique
where companies shrink their products steadily over time
while the price stays the same.
- You're close.
It's actually a money-saving technique
where companies shrink their products steadily over time
while the price stays the same.
- Oh.
- Usually they do this
because the costs of raw goods have gone up,
and sometimes companies are (indistinct) about it,
but oftentimes they try to keep it a secret.
Back in 2007, B.J. Novak
brought this up to Conan on his show
about Cadbury Creme Eggs, take a look.
- This is this year's Cadbury egg, not the mini egg,
not the mini creme egg, this is this year's egg.
This is the egg from a couple years ago.
- [Link] Yeah, from a couple years ago.
- Judge for yourself, America.
- He had kept one.
And yeah, I'm not gonna speak for all of America,
but it's smaller.
- Yeah, unless he's holding that one a lot closer.
But it actually looks like they're right next to each other.
- He's not, it did get smaller.
- Cadbury is not the only company that is doing this,
there are other products that have also gotten smaller,
it's time for "Over the Years
Have Our Products Gotten More Tiny?
Or Do My Eyes Deceive Me
Like I've Been Sipping the Red Wine-y?"
Okay, Link, each round I'm gonna present you with
the most current version of two, that's actually four,
two different products.
Now one has suffered from shrinkflation,
the other has stayed the same size.
Now you're gonna try to be guessing
which one has actually shrunk over time,
and of course, you're playing for a prize.
The default thing that you're gonna win, right here,
is this giant jar of Skippy peanut butter.
- I've seen bigger, but I'll take it.
- But every one that you get wrong,
I'm gonna make this a little bit smaller,
not with magic, I'm just gonna grab a smaller jar.
- Oh, it's gonna shrink.
- Get it? Shrinkflation?
All right, Link, you see what you have before you.
- Yeah, it's right here, it's elevated on green pastures.
- Mounds candy bars, the delicious precursor
to Almond Joy, were invented by candy maker
Vincent Nitido, my favorite Nitido, in 1920.
This candy bar weighs 1.75 ounces.
Tootsie Pops, the classic American lollypop,
were invented in 1931.
This lollypop weighs 17 grams, or point, don't touch.
- Why cannot I touch it? Just tell me.
- Because you might remember the old ones.
- Well then, that's part of the game, man.
- Can he touch? - Can I not use my memory?
- I've been told he can touch.
.60 ounces, which sweet treat
has shrunk in size over the years?
- This is heavy. I'm learning something.
It's heavier, so I have a hard time imagining this thing
being even heavier.
- Should we not let him touch?
I've been told we might not need to let you touch,
it depends on how well you do in this round.
'Cause I really want this bit
of this peanut butter getting smaller to play.
- I had a lot of these as a kid,
never once tried to have this,
'cause I was afraid of the coconut.
I remember them being this size,
so I am gonna go with the Mounds,
yeah, there's two in there.
I'm pretty confident that they're the things
that have gotten smaller.
- Link, you are right!
Now this one, we speculate that this
is from the 60s or 70s,
and it weighs two and one eighth ounces.
And so today's bar is 1.75 ounces,
that's a decrease of 17.6%.
- Should I open it? Should we look?
We should.
- I've been told he can open it.
- Okay. Because...
- Oh, gosh, maybe you shouldn't have.
- It's still got the slider. Open that one.
Oop, the slider came out, but not the...
- [Rhett] This is the original Mound right here.
- Yeah, I would say that it is...
- Don't touch it to it.
Now I have to eat this one for later.
- It's a little smaller, but I gotta tell you,
it's a lot more photogenic.
- All right, this piece of wood is predominantly used
for structure framing in the United States.
These Victor mouse traps,
or that Victor mouse trap,
which is still working, dates back to 1898,
and you know what they're used for.
Which one has gotten smaller over the years, Link?
- It seems like mice have gotten bigger over the years,
so have the traps gotten bigger with the mice,
or have they discovered that you don't need as much trap
to kill a mice?
- Interesting thought, there.
- Because a two by four, I mean,
see I know that two by fours are actually not two by four.
Were they ever?
I think this could be a trick.
So, Imma tell you right now,
I know a two by four, two by twos are not two by twos,
two by fours are not two by fours,
my dad yelled that at me one time.
I'm gonna go with the two by four.
Two by four has gotten smaller,
it used to be two by four.
- You're right.
- I know construction all of a sudden!
- This is something my dad yelled at me at one point.
- Oh, you too?
- No, it's actually, working construction in high school,
I learned everything is a lie.
Yeah, they're just three and a half
by one and a half, now they were originally,
as you can see from this original board,
they were two by four.
Early 1900s, but then they actually made 'em one,
they worked their way down to an inch and a half
times three and a half inches, so 34% decrease,
in order to basically account
for these cheaper wood alternatives
that were coming on the market.
And they were like "I think we can get this done
with a little bit smaller piece of wood."
And lemme tell ya, that's true,
you can get it done with a slightly smaller piece of wood.
- As long as you get it done!
Just shut up and get it done!
- That's right, just get it done, son.
- Rhett, before you tell me
about the next potentially shrunken item,
I just wanna invite the people
to listen to our podcast, you know?
- Yeah, Ear Biscuits.
- Wherever podcasts-
- Are sold.
- Well, it's free.
- Oh, it's free. Wherever podcasts are streamed.
- The podcast where two lifelong friends
talk about life for a long time.
Boy, you'll learn some stuff.
- Okay, Link, Moon Pies, which are on your right,
were invented in Tennessee in 1917.
These graham cracker marshmallow sandwiches
dipped in chocolate are four inches in diameter
and weigh two ounces a piece.
- This is a banana flavor.
- Skippy peanut butter on your left
was invented in 1932 by Joseph Rosenfield,
an entrepreneur from Lexington, Kentucky.
- Entrepre-what? - Entrepreneur.
- Neur.
- He instituted the wide-mouthed jar.
This guy came out with the wide-mouthed jar.
Thank you, Joseph.
- Joseph Skippy?
- Rosenfield.
And it holds 16.3 ounces. Which has been shrunkflated?
- I'm gonna say the Moon Pie, because...
I just think they made these bigger.
I don't know, it just,
I think I remember a bigger version of this,
even though I never ate it.
- You're wrong, Link, it's the Skippy peanut butter, yes.
Now, they downsized their standard bottle
from 18 ounces to 16.3 ounces in 2000.
They did it in a sneaky way.
They kept the dimensions of the bottle the same,
but they put a dimple in the bottom of the jar.
Those dirty dogs did a dimple!
- I mean look at that dimple.
- And Link, you know what that means.
- Now I'm shrinking?
- The big Skippy is going home with me.
Kleenex hit the market in 1924,
it was advertised as a disposable face towel.
This box of two ply Kleenex has 95 sheets.
ChapStick was invented in the 1880s in Lynchburg, Virginia.
This tube has four grams.
Which product has shrunk?
- Now, interestingly enough,
both of these products,
I don't know if you did this on purpose, Rhett,
but they're both specific products that we use the term
for the general product.
- Yes, it's called, there's a word for that.
- I think it's called Kleenexing something.
- Nope.
- It's called ChapSticking it.
- There's a brand something, yes, yes.
- This seems real thin.
I think it's the Kleenex, though.
- What are you basing this on?
- I feel like the boxes were bigger when I was smaller,
but maybe it's just 'cause I was smaller.
- Well, I mean you went to the ChapStick and said,
"I feel like it was thinner, it seems thin."
- Yeah, I'm just going with my gut here. Kleenex.
- You're right. In 1972 it would have 125 sheets,
and now there's a difference of 30 sheets,
about 24% decrease!
- [Link] Dang, Kleenex! Soft and spirited.
- Kleenex maker Kimberly-Clark,
which is not a person but two last names together,
cited the rising cost of virgin fiber
as the need for shrinkflation,
and virgin fiber
is what I called all my clothes in high school.
Now, in 2013, they came out with tissues-
- You got more facts? I don't wanna know more about Kleenex.
- This is important.
They said they came out with things that were sheets
that were 15% bulkier, which made up for the 13% decrease.
So you get the same amount, it's just fewer sheets,
and same amount of virgin fiber.
Wheaties cereal was created in 1921
after an employee for the Washburn company,
later General Mills, accidentally spilled wheat bran mixture
onto a hot stove.
- Whoops! Happy accident, Bob Rossing it.
- But they made Wheaties.
Usually happy accidents make things better than Wheaties.
Like penicillin.
- Yum!
- Apple Jacks originally called Apple O's,
were invented in 1965, and this box of Apple Jacks
is 10.1 ounces.
Which cereal has shrunk itself?
- So there's already less Apple Jacks,
10.1 ounces to 15.6 ounces of the Serena cereal.
Which is why I like to refer to it as,
generacization is almost the word
we were trying to remember earlier.
Apple Jacks is already smaller.
I got no rationale to go on besides that,
I'm gonna go with Apple Jacks has shrunk.
- Yes, Link, you're right.
Okay, this Apple Jacks box is from 2006,
which is 11 ounces, and in 2008 the box went down
to 10.1 ounces for an 8.18% decrease.
- So there's more Apple Jacks, but the box got bigger.
Box got bigger, Apple Jacks got smaller.
- Exactly, now, that same year,
Kellogg's downsized Cocoa Krispies,
Corn Pops, Froot Loops, and Honey Smacks,
but for some reason they made Cracklin' Oat Bran really big.
Don't you remember that year,
the Year of the Big Bran?
Yeah, and this is an old Wheaties box,
just because we know how much you like Tim Duncan.
Starbucks, or Starbuck as I say
when I'm doing a dad joke with my kids,
opened in 1971 in Seattle's Pike Place Market,
and then in 2019 it had over 31,000 stores worldwide.
Their grande coffee, which sits before you,
is 16 ounces.
The Big Mac, on the other hand,
was introduced in 1968, and has two 1.6 ounce beef patties,
special sauce, iceberg lettuce, American cheese,
pickles, onions, and is all served on three sesame buns.
- Are you telling me what a Big Mac is made of?
- Well, I'm telling the one person who doesn't know, okay?
So which of these two has gotten smaller over the years?
- Now, so grande, so this is a small, or this is a medium?
'Cause I refuse to play that game.
- Venti is the large, so grande is the medium.
- [Link] There's no way the Big Mac has gotten smaller.
- Well pick it up and fondle it a little bit and find out.
- Like, when the Big Mac would've been bigger,
I wouldn't have been ordering Big Mac,
so I don't have a palpable prescient knowledge of this.
- Two big words about Big Macs,
you didn't think you'd hear today.
I'm talking to you who didn't know what was on a Big Mac.
- It has the word "big" in it.
I mean, for them to make that smaller is just,
that is just despicable.
But this is called "big", I mean "grande".
- Called grande.
- That means big!
There's no way the Big Mac got smaller,
I'm going with the medium cup of coffee,
which they named to seem large, but then made smaller.
- Link, this is controversial,
but the shrunken product is the Big Mac.
- Seriously?
And we acquired, yeah, it definitely,
when did we acquire this?
- Okay, so we went back to 1968...
- No way it's that big!
- Okay, so hold on, so this is an approximation,
lemme just explain how we got here,
because if you're like me, you're skeptical at this point.
- It's your point, you have to own it.
- Okay, some companies are honest about shrinkflation,
McDonald's has said that they have not
decreased the size of the Big Mac over the years.
- I mean the proof's right here.
- So many people believe that they have,
that a year ago an Australian radio station
tracked down a man who was in a 1990's McDonald's commercial
where he holds a Big Mac right up to the camera,
and then they had it hold it again 28 years later.
- Oh, same guy, same hand.
- And that's what happened, man, look at that.
- [Link] So they did some sort of analysis?
As you get older, your hands shrink, though.
- [Rhett] They don't shrink that much.
So, I mean, we made this one
that is clearly bigger than any Big Mac ever was,
or even thought about being,
but it was just to give you the sensation
of what a bigger Big Mac might seem like.
- Also, commercial Big Macs...
nothing in commercials is real.
We already knew to prove that.
- Listen, Link, an Australian radio station
took a picture from a commercial.
- Can I just have my?
- Nope, you get this one.
You know what?
Because you've offended me, you're getting this one.
Because you've offended,
you know what, you can have both of these.
- I just, they're all chunky.
Do you have any creamy?
- Nope.
I would've chosen creamy
but I wanted to make you uncomfortable.
Thanks for subscribing and clicking that bell.
- You know what time it is.
- Hi, I'm Evin from Adelaide, Australia,
but right now I'm at the World's Smallest Park
in Portland, Oregon,
and it's time to spin the Wheel of Mythicality.
- She probably listened to that radio show
where they proved that the Big Mac had gotten smaller.
Click the top link to watch us try bonsai trimming
in Good Mythical More.
- And to find out
where the Wheel of Mythicality's gonna land.
Hey, if you want the Rhett and Link bobble heads,
it's the last month to join the Mythical Society
3rd degree quarterly or annual plans
by December 31st to be eligible.
Visit MythicalSociety.com for details.