A shopper thinks Cottonelle is pulling a “fast one” after recently purchasing a pack of the toilet paper and noticing something different about the size of it.
“Not to body shame, but Cottonelle’s hole is huge now, and they’re pulling a fast one,” TikToker Sadville (@sadville) claims.
He then shows viewers a roll of Cottonelle and instructs them to look at the cardboard tube at the center of the roll.
“Look how big that tube is. And the bigger the tube, the less paper there is, right?” he questions.
Supporting the claim with a comparison
To support his claim that “Cottonelle’s hole is huge now,” he pulls previous toilet paper rolls from his trash; they are significantly smaller than the Cottonelle roll he originally showed viewers.
“These two on the bottom—that’s like a normal toilet paper. Look at this big one on top—that’s the new Cottonelle. That’s what’s going on,” he exclaims.
“That means, like, this 12 mega rolls equals 48 rolls. Math is wrong, ’cause it’s like, yeah, you made the hole bigger on all of them,” he shares, concluding that with larger tubes, customers get less toilet paper.
Shrinkflation?
This phenomenon is shrinkflation, the practice by companies of reducing the size or quantity of a product while keeping the same price, according to CNET.
The Lending Tree confirmed Sadville’s suspicion of shrinking toilet paper. It reported that “twelve mega rolls of Cottonelle Ultra Comfort toilet paper decreased from 284 sheets a roll to 244.” It also claims that prices of Cottonelle “rose by 21.1% per 100 count — the same per-100-count price increase of a roll in a Scott 1000 toilet paper 12-pack, despite that product not shrinking in size.”
@sadville ♬ original sound – sadville
Sadville’s viral video has 101,000 views and hundreds of comments.
Many viewers resonated with Sadville’s observations of shrinking toilet paper.
“Shrinkflation is even hitting the TP,” one viewer shared.
“They also cut the tube shorter so the tissue width is thinner,” a viewer commented.
“Another trick I saw Charmin pull, the rolls are shorter,” another suggested.
Suggestions and concerns
“You need to base toilet paper off of square footage, not number of rolls or sheets. For years they’ve purposely made it difficult to tell how much you’re getting,” one viewer recommended.
Many viewers also noticed changes with the decreasing quality of toilet paper.
“And their new rolls are SHEDDING EVERYWHERE. God forbid you use some as a tissue,” one viewer observed.
Customers took to Reddit to also share their noticed changes.
“Can confirm, mega roll from my last pack was 148 grams and the new roll is 132. Definitely shrank!!!” one viewer shared.
“Not only shrinking it but also raising the price. Heck, raise the price and keep it the same. Both? Screw them,” another user expressed.
The Daily Dot reached out to Sadville via TikTok comment and Cottonelle via email.
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