Four customers in Florida have filed a federal lawsuit against Hershey’s Co., alleging that some designs displayed on Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups misled customers.
Plaintiff vs. Hershey Company
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Plaintiff vs. Hershey Company
Four customers in Florida have filed a federal lawsuit against Hershey’s Co., alleging that some designs displayed on Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups misled customers.
Plaintiff vs. Hershey Company
Several individuals in Florida have filed a federal lawsuit against The Hershey Company, alleging that designs displayed on Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups mislead customers.
In a 20-page lawsuit obtained by NPR, four consumers – Nathan Vidal, Debra Kennick, Abdul Martin ) and Eduardo Granados — argued that the chocolatier misled consumers by displaying “clearly engraved artistic designs” on several of its Reese’s Peanut Butter products.
The lawsuit alleges that once the chocolate candy is opened from the packaging, the actual product and product are “blank.”
“Hershey’s deceptive advertising caused many consumers to purchase the products because of the cool and beautiful engraved designs on the product packaging, who would not have purchased the products had they been truthfully advertised,” the lawsuit reads.
The chocolate candies listed by consumers in the lawsuit include – Reese’s Medals, Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins, Reese’s White Ghosts, Reese’s Peanut Butter Bats and Reese’s Peanut Butter Footballs.
In the lawsuit, the four customers claim the product’s packaging was not “always deceptive and misleading” because the company changed product packaging over the past two to three years, adding detailed engravings to “increase sales and income” “.
The four consumers are seeking unspecified damages, which will be determined by evidence at trial, the lawsuit said.
The Hershey Company has not responded to multiple requests for comment from NPR.
Attorney Anthony Russo, who is representing the company on the case, told NPR that his company receives dozens of calls every month about misleading advertising of products and advertising.
“I would say about 98-99% [the cases] We had to say no simply because we felt the particular fact pattern was insufficient to pursue the case,” Russo said.
Russo did not specify why his company took on the case, but he said it is also representing another group of plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against Burger King. The plaintiffs argue that the fast-food chain uses misleading advertising to show its food products as larger than they actually are.
The Hershey Company is no stranger to lawsuits involving misrepresentations in its products.
In January, a Florida woman filed a lawsuit against the company, saying she purchased Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins in October with jack-o’-lantern packaging. The woman, Cynthia Kelly, said the picture on the wrapper did not match the chocolate candy she opened.
Kelly’s lawsuit says the problematic packaging extends to Reese’s seasonal ghosts, bats and pumpkins – and cites several YouTube videos of other customers complaining.
“This is a class action lawsuit against Hershey’s because Hershey’s falsely characterized several Reese’s Peanut Butter products as containing explicit engraved artistic designs when there was no such engraving on the actual products,” the lawsuit states.
Kelly is seeking at least $5 million in damages. It’s unclear whether her case will go before a judge.
NPR’s Megan Lim contributed reporting.
