Hershey attacks lawsuits targeting packaging, seeks to end Reese's case

In a Wednesday filing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida federal court, Hershey said no reasonable consumer could believe its Halloween- and Christmas-themed candies necessarily contained the "explicit carved out artistic designs" shown on packaging.
The consumers suing Hershey expressed disappointment with the lack of details on nine Reese's products, including pumpkin-shaped candies missing eyes and crooked mouths, and a football-shaped candy whose lack of stitching left it resembling an egg.

But Hershey said the four plaintiffs ignored disclaimers that such details were only a "DECORATING SUGGESTION," and other images that lacked such details.
The company called it unreasonable to focus only on images with decorative carvings as a "supposed guarantee" of how Reese's candies actually looked.
"This lawsuit is yet another in a growing trend of baseless class actions founded on nothing but a consumer's selective, subjective, and result-driven interpretation of one isolated aspect of a product's packaging without considering its full context," Hershey said.
"Not a single plaintiff claims the product was unfit for consumption or was anything other than what consumers have come to love and expect from this iconic brand--a delicious treat," it added.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs had no immediate comment on Thursday.
Many other consumer class actions target packaging claims, such as whether products qualify as all natural or contain enough of a particular ingredient.
The Florida plaintiffs suing Hershey, Nathan Vidal, Debra Kennick, Abdjul Martin and Eduardo Granados, are seeking at least $5 million in damages.

display_title
Hershey attacks lawsuits targeting packaging, seeks to end Reese's case
Categories
Custom tags
lawsuit, class action, decorative, decoration, art, packaging design, candy packaging
Short Description
Hershey urged a US judge to dismiss a lawsuit claiming it misled consumers about several Reese's peanut butter candies, using its request to level a broadside against what it considers baseless class action litigation over product packaging.
 
If you would like to feature your company news, press releases, or other updates on our website, you can register and submit content directly through our platform or email us at info@packagingconnections.com.