A Florida woman has sued The Hershey Company for $5 million over the “misleading” packaging of Halloween-themed Reese’s peanut butter candies.
The packaging art of Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins depicts the candy with a carved jack-o-lantern face, which does not appear on the physical candy.
In the proposed federal class action lawsuit filed on Dec. 28, Cynthia Kelly accused Hershey of falsely advertising that the candies would feature a carved face. The suit argues that she would not have paid $4.49 for a bag of them at an Aldi had she known the candies lacked any carvings at all.
The suit also references other Reese’s products, such as Reese’s Peanut Butter footballs, which likewise have “explicit carved out artistic designs when there are no such carvings in the actual products.”
According to court documents shared by WFLA, Kelly is suing “on behalf of herself and all other similarly situated individuals who purchased a Reese’s Peanut Butter product based on false and deceptive advertising.” The lawsuit cites several YouTube reviews featuring people complaining about the “deception.”
“Reese’s what are you doing! Look at the picture on the packet. It’s like a pumpkin with faces and a little mouth — then you open up the packet and you are presented with that monstrosity,” one YouTuber said.
If class action status is granted, “all consumers within the State of Florida” who bought the “misleading” products would be able to join the proposed class.
Hershey has until Jan. 19 to respond to the suit.
