A woman in Florida is suing the candy giant Hershey, alleging that the Pennsylvania-based company misled consumers with the packaging on a Halloween-themed Reese’s candy. The lawsuit, filed by Cynthia Kelly on Dec. 28, claims that Hershey engaged in “false and deceptive advertising” when it advertised an image of a chocolate peanut butter pumpkin with a jack-o’-lantern face on the packaging of the candy, when in fact the piece of candy didn’t have any such carvings. The same goes for Reese’s white ghost candy and its peanut butter bats. Kelly is suing Hershey for $5 million.
“The advertising for the products was designed to encourage consumers to purchase the products and reasonably misled reasonable consumers,” lawyers for Kelly wrote in the lawsuit.
Total Retail’s Take: Several retailers and restaurant chains have similarly been accused of false advertising in recent years, including the online retailer Boohoo and its subsidiaries, Nasty Gal and PrettyLittleThing; Wendy’s; McDonald’s; Starbucks; and Burger King. In today’s litigious society, brands need to be extra careful with every piece of marketing and advertising material they release. Otherwise, they put themselves at risk of being sued.
Bonnie Patten, the executive director of Truth in Advertising, a nonprofit focused on protecting consumers from false advertising, told CBS News in September that many of the lawsuits have been handled by a handful of lawyers, including James Kelly and Anthony Russo. Russo is also representing the plaintiff in the Hershey lawsuit.
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