Florida Woman Files Lawsuit Over Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins Packaging
The lawsuit is seeking $5 million, claiming "false and deceptive advertising".
A Florida woman is suing Hershey's over "misleading" packaging of its Reese's Peanut Butter Products. According to the complaint (via People), Cynthia Kelly of Tampa Bay has filed a class action lawsuit in Florida's Middle District Court against Hershey's for $5 million. In the complaint, Kelly says she and other consumers purchased the products based on "false and deceptive advertising". Specifically, Kelly alleges that the pumpkin products were supposed to have "explicit carved out artistic designs" but the actual products had no such designs.
Per the lawsuit, several of Reese's products, including the Halloween pumpkins and ghost candies had packaging that featured designs on the candy — a jack o'lantern design for the pumpkins and an eyes and mouth on the packaging for the ghosts — but the candies didn't have such a design on the actual product. The lawsuit alleges that consumers have been "tricked and misled" by the packaging.
"Hershey's labels for the Products are materially misleading and numerous consumers have been tricked and misled by the pictures on the Products' packaging," the complaint reads. The lawsuit also links to various YouTube reviews of consumers complaining about the packaging. The lawsuit, which alleges that Hershey's violated Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, specifically lists the following products:
• Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins
• Reese's White Pumpkins
• Reese's Pieces Pumpkins
• Reese's Peanut Butter Ghost
• Reese's White Ghost
• Reese's Peanut Butter Bats
• Reese's Peanut Butter footballs
• Reese's Peanut Butter Shapes Assortment Snowmen, Stockings, Bells
The lawsuit also notes that older packaging for the products did not include the faces and other artistic details with Kelly stating that she "would not have purchased the Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins product if she knew that it did not have the detailed carvings of the mouth and/or eyes pictured on the product label."
Interestingly, this latest case comes exactly one year after Hershey was sued for $5 million by a Long Island man. That lawsuit alleged that Hershey's Special Dark Mildly Sweet Chocolate, Lily's Extra Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa, and Lily's Extreme Dark Chocolate 85% Cocoa all contain harmful levels of lead and cadmium. The case was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice in February 2023.
Taco Bell Was Also Hit With A $5 Million Lawsuit in 2023
Hershey's isn't the only food-related company to be hit with a lawsuit in recent years. In 2023, Taco Bell was also sued for false advertising over its Mexican Pizza and Crunchwrap Supreme line. In that lawsuit, New York resident Frank Siragusa accused the chain of misleading advertisements showing a dramatically increased amount of ingredients in items than what is actually put into the pizza and Crunchwraps in-store. That lawsuit was also seeking $5 million in damages.
"Taco Bell's advertisements for the Overstated Menu Items are unfair and financially damaging to consumers as they are receiving a product that is materially lower in value than what is being promised," the lawsuit adds. "Taco Bell advertises larger portions of food to steer consumers to their restaurants for their meals and away from competitors that more fairly advertise the size of their menu items, unfairly diverting millions of dollars in sales that would have gone to competitors."
