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News & Current Events May 12, 2026 at 9:32 AM

Snack giant Calbee switches to black and white packaging as Iran war hits ink supplies

Posted by Blueberryburntpie

Snack giant Calbee switches to black and white packaging as Iran war hits ink supplies
www.bbc.com
Snack giant Calbee switches to black and white packaging as Iran war hits ink supplies
The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has severely disrupted global supplies of energy and petrochemicals.
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23 Comments

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SideInitial3961 1 day ago +329
60g to 55g? No one else notice this "printing change" in other photos? They took advantage of this to remove 5g of chips from the product. Enshitification has nothing to do with Iran. nice try Calbee.
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Maximum_Indication 1 day ago +43
Yes. Also, they are audacious in their shrinkflation. Where once a bag of granola in JP was 800 grams and 600 yen, it became 700 grams plus “now with 50 more grams!” Unfortunately I had a hankering for granola and the cheapest alternative, Japanese Kellogg’s , was about 300 grams for 400 yen, so I did buy it, but I was shocked by their audacity.
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imaginary_num6er 1 day ago +5
It's the yen exchange rate getting weaker
5
StarTruckNxtGyration 1 day ago +76
No it’s just that coloured ink weighs about 5g more.
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r4z0rbl4d3 1 day ago +69
Harkonnen approved.
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SideInitial3961 1 day ago +52
Reaction will be "this looks cool actually" but 15% sales loss. Watch.
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Super_Employment_620 1 day ago +19
Which will lead to pundits talking around each other about what this small change means for the global economy as a whole while the gorilla in the room blockade continues.
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gottagohype 1 day ago +4
Also the stock market will surge another 10%.
4
Slow_Balance270 1 day ago +8
I feel like if black and white is cheaper anyways that's what brands should be using. I have no problem with b&w packaging.
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sovietarmyfan 1 day ago +33
That's actually pretty cool. Limited edition packaging. Will be a collector's item one day.
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DDoubleDDog 1 day ago +4
The world really needs to become less dependent on products from the Persian Gulf.
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hakenwithbacon 1 day ago +24
People that make these statements don't really know how oil is used for almost everything from pharma to packaging or how global supply chains work. It's not as easy as saying "just switch to EVs and install more solar panels on the roof". From the article: > Supplies of naphtha, a byproduct of oil refining used in ink and plastics, have also been hit hard.
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PopeslothXVII 1 day ago +11
So what, we should just sit around and change nothing in how our modern world works and keep chugging along using oil in every sing facet of our life until it runs out because certain things like pharma and medical supplies will be hard to find alternative materials to use?
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hakenwithbacon 1 day ago -12
Yes. Literally how it works. I'll give you another example. Helium is an element in cooling in MRI machines or Nuclear reactors or in manufacturing semiconductors used in the phone you used to make this comment. It can't be manufactured (unless we figure out fusion) and there's a finite amount on the earth. Want to guess where we get Helium from? I'll give you two clues - it has the words Natural and Gas.
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PopeslothXVII 1 day ago +3
So if there's a finite amount of it on earth of both Helium and Oil, wouldn't that mean we should find alternatives to those?? Also Fission reactors don't use helium to my knowledge anywhere? If anything they actually produce tiny amounts funny enough.
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hakenwithbacon 1 day ago -5
> So if there's a finite amount of it on earth of both Helium and Oil, wouldn't that mean we should find alternatives to those? Just because you are not aware doesn't mean people aren't working towards those alternatives. They don't exist today because it's a combination of alternatives not being discovered or invented or the economics of the alternative not being cost efficient. These things don't happen overnight.
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PopeslothXVII 1 day ago +5
I never said it'd happen instantly? No one did? I've literally written a research paper on bioplastics and have seen the wider research and development into this across the board. It's a complex disaster of material science that needs solving. But that still doesn't mean there are plenty of things now that the world can do more to reduce our needs on oil.
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CodeNCats 1 day ago -1
You are missing the entire point. We are trying to improve and change how we do things. The entire modern world was built by oil and gas. Switching to alternatives takes time. There are also the things that we absolutely need. We need plastics for many medical purposes. Helium is literally scientifically the only thing. Technology advances all the time. Yet right now we need Helium because of basic chemical science. It has the lowest boiling point of any element. It is used to cool the magnet to a superconducting state. Maybe someday we can reach superconductivity at room temp. Yet right now nope. You might say, well just use different supplies then. The middle east produces about 30% of the world's oil. Therefore being one of the largest supplies of the oil and byproducts that are currently necessary in everyday life.
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PopeslothXVII 23 hr ago +1
At what point in time did me or anyone say that it'd be easy or instant to switch to alternatives to oil if it be medical needs such as hospitals and IV bags and the plethora of sterile items they need, the p******* industry and their needs of building blocks to create the many complex medications and casings for said meds, the technology and science sectors and their needs for noble gases, or a unimaginable amount of other areas? Or that we'd even be able to entirely reduce our needs to zero? # Oh right, literally no one nowhere, all that was stated is that we need to become less dependent.
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CodeNCats 23 hr ago -3
.... and the point is. We are. **One third of the supply comes through that area!**
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nerdmor 19 hr ago +3
The world needs to become less dependent on oil. Full stop.
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swizzcheez 1 day ago +2
It wasn't just a subtle product tie in to Spider Noir?
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Kirarifluff 1 day ago
very stylish honestly
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