‘FALSE & DECEPTIVE:’ Woman sues Hershey over holiday-themed chocolate

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A Florida woman is suing Hershey, claiming she was “tricked” by the brand’s packaging of its holiday-themed treats.

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Cynthia Kelly, of Hillsborough County, Fla., stated in a proposed federal class action lawsuit that she was filing on “behalf of herself and all other similarly situated individuals who purchased a Reese’s Peanut Butter product based on false and deceptive advertising.”

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The suit, filed on Dec. 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, claimed, “Hershey’s labels for the products are materially misleading and numerous consumers have been tricked and misled by the pictures on the products’ packaging.”

Among the products accused of being “misleading,” are “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, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Shapes Assortment Snowmen Stockings Bells,” according to the suit, obtained by Fox News.

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The Hershey Co. said Kelly, is “falsely representing several Reese’s Peanut Butter products as containing explicit carved out artistic designs when there are no such carvings in the actual products.”

Kelly purchased a bag of peanut butter pumpkins for $4.49 at an Aldi store in October 2023.

She “believed that the product contained a cute-looking carving of a pumpkin’s mouth and eyes as pictured on the product packaging,” according to the suit.

Kelly, who is seeking at least $5 million in damages, alleges that Reese’s peanut butter pumpkins did not have Jack-o’-lantern carvings as the wrapper depicts.

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She says in the suit that the same is true for the footballs, bats and ghosts, claiming they are merely non-descript hunks of peanut-butter stuffed chocolate with no artistic designs that are seen on the packaging.

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The lawsuit includes photos of the packaging of the mentioned candies, as well as pictures of the items out of their wrappers.

“They purchased the products with the reasonable expectation that the products would look similar to the pictures displayed on the products’ packaging.”

The lawsuit further alleges Hershey changed its product packaging to “boost sales and revenues,” noting that previous packaging from two or three years ago did not include designs on the chocolate.

“(Kelly) 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 as pictured on the product label,” said the lawsuit.

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