A South Florida law firm has filed a lawsuit against The Hershey Company, claiming false and deceptive advertising related to the designs of various Reese’s Peanut Butter products.
Delray Beach-based Russo Firm has filed the proposed class action suit in the Middle District of Florida against The Hersey Company, alleging the use of false advertising and deceptive trade practices.
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The complaint, dated Dec. 28, 2023, requested a jury trial, as well as $5 million in damages, on behalf of plaintiff Cynthia Kelly "and all other similarly situated individuals."
The allegations stem from Hershey's packaging on its Reese's products. While images in the filed documents showed previous packaging that reflected the shape and designs of the chocolate-peanut butter cup inside, images of newer packaging showed more detailed designs, despite the actual candy inside remaining the same, the suit claims.
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"You got what you asked for. You took pride in supporting those companies. Those companies took pride in providing a product that consumers could use and felt confident with, and there was a sense of trust between the consumer and the manufacturer of the goods," attorney Anthony Russo told NBC6. "That's been seriously eroded here to the point where corporate profit is definitely taking a front seat over production."
The complaint cited several videos posted to social media regarding the Reese's candies, including one in which an individual stated that "we got lied to," and another said, "It is kind of deceptive because on the front of the package, they make it look like there is a little face cut into them, a jack-o-lantern face, and that is not the case. I have bought these, like I said, for years now, and they do not have a face cut into them."
The products included in the suit include 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.
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"Today, it's a $2 piece of candy or a $5 fast food item. Tomorrow, it's your vehicle," Russo said. "We want the behavior to change, and sometimes it's necessary to file a lawsuit or take what some would consider to be drastic measures to prove the point. But that is the only way to get attention for something to be fixed."
Russo said that since filing the proposed class action suit, his office has received hundreds of calls from consumers experiencing similar issues.
In a statement to NBC6, a spokesperson for The Hershey Company said that they do not comment on pending litigation.
It's not the first food-related suit filed by the Russo Firm. They previously filed a lawsuit against Burger King for allegedly misrepresenting the size of its Whopper hamburgers and other food products, claiming that the actual size of the Whopper is significantly smaller than what is depicted in the fast food chain's advertising. The legal action in that case is pending.
"If you allow this behavior to happen even at the smallest level, what you're doing is you're inviting or ignoring the ability for it to happen at a much later level," Russo said. "If we are fortunate enough to get to the point where we have a class action class-certified and you open up to tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people, it could well exceed that $5 million. So, it's really just a number to get us into the court."
