Hershey’s has asked a U.S. court to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that several Reese’s peanut butter candies misled consumers, signaling it will fight back ferociously against a frivolous class action lawsuit over its product packaging.
Hershey’s argued in a filing Wednesday in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that reasonable consumers would not believe that its Halloween- and Christmas-themed candies necessarily contain the “blatantly carved artistic designs” that appear on the packaging.
The consumers who sued Hershey’s expressed disappointment over a lack of detail on nine Reese’s products, including a pumpkin-shaped candy with no eyes and a crooked mouth and a football-shaped candy that looks like an egg because it has no seams.
But Hershey argued that the four plaintiffs ignored disclaimers that said such details were merely “embellishment suggestions,” as well as other images without such details.
The company argued that it was unreasonable to focus solely on the decorative carved images as a “guarantee” of what Reese’s candy actually looks like.
“This lawsuit is yet another in a growing trend of frivolous class action lawsuits based solely on consumers’ selective, subjective, results-driven interpretation of an isolated aspect of a product’s packaging without considering the full context of that packaging,” Hershey’s said.
“None of the plaintiffs have alleged that the products were unfit for consumption or were anything other than the delicious treats consumers love and expect from this iconic brand,” it added.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs did not immediately comment Thursday.
Many other consumer class action lawsuits target packaging claims, such as whether a product is all-natural or whether it contains enough of a particular ingredient.
The Florida plaintiffs suing Hershey — Nathan Vidal, Debra Kenick, Abjur Martin and Eduardo Granados — are seeking at least $5 million in damages.
The case is Vidal et al v Hershey Co, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, Case No. 24-60831.
First Published: September 6, 2024 | 09:05 AM IST