New Delhi

Hershey is facing a class action lawsuit over allegations that consumers were misled into believing that Reese’s peanut butter candies provided a higher level of accuracy than they did.

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The lawsuit is a class action involving four Reese consumers from southern Florida who claimed to be "very disappointed" by the lack of colour in the candy products they bought in November 2022.

The plaintiffs—Nathan Vidal, Debra Kennick, Abdjul Martin, and Eduardo Granados—stated that they would not have bought the candies if they had known that there would be fewer "explicit carved out artistic designs" than what was shown on the packaging.

They highlighted differences between the advertised designs and the actual products, such as Halloween pumpkins that were supposed to have eyes and a mouth but were produced without them, and a football-shaped candy that looked like an egg because it lacked the expected stitches.

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A lawsuit has been filed in the federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, seeking at least $5 million in damages.

The allegations involve nine types of Reese’s candies, including the Halloween and Christmas editions, as well as Reese’s Peanut Butter footballs and Reese’s Medals.

Responses from both Hershey and its legal representatives are still pending at the time of this writing.

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A lawyer in Tampa, Florida filed a second lawsuit in December with a narrower scope compared to the previous one.

The case, which targeted a single defendant, was voluntarily dismissed yesterday.

Additionally, the lawyer has filed legal cases against Burger King and Taco Bell for serving food that did not match their advertising.

(With inputs from Reuters)