(NewsSpace.com) – Packaging on products is very important, especially if the contents inside aren’t visible. Customers have a reasonable expectation that the goods they purchase will resemble what’s on the outside. A Florida woman, however, is unhappy with a very popular candymaker and has filed a lawsuit for its alleged “deceptive” practices.
On December 28, Cynthia Kelly filed a lawsuit against Hershey’s in Florida’s Middle District Court. She is seeking $5 million in damages, accusing the company of misleading shoppers with “false and deceptive advertising” on a few of its products’ packaging. The goods in the case are the Halloween Reese’s candies, specifically a pumpkin, football, bat, and ghost. The lawsuit lists a few other products with similar issues as well and says it’s a violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
Kelly states that the product packaging shows a carving on a Reese’s pumpkin and the facial features of the ghost. She accuses the company of “falsely representing” the products “as containing explicitly carved-out artistic designs,” yet “there are no such carvings in the actual products.” In fact, many people have spoken out about the goods, with one saying they look like “just a chocolate blob,” saying it’s “a little disappointing.”
In the lawsuit, Kelly also includes pictures of the older packaging, which depicts the products as they appear, sans carvings, and notes that she would not have bought the ones with the newer labels had she known the candy didn’t contain the intricate carvings. She has asked the court to certify the case as a class-action suit so others can join in on the damages. If the judge complies, it would open the lawsuit to “all consumers within the State of Florida” who purchased the candies.
The case is currently in the hands of a federal magistrate after having been initially assigned to US District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell.
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