Hershey has added a blunt “Carving not on actual product” disclaimer to Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins packaging after a Miami judge tossed a class-action claim that the candy failed to match its jack-o’-lantern artwork.
The Hershey Co. replaced the older “Decorating Suggestion” language with the clearer warning next to the pumpkin-shaped candy image that shows carved eyes and a mouth. Product images on the company’s Hersheyland site now display the small-print disclaimer on the front and back of the package.
The move followed dismissal of a proposed class-action brought by Florida consumers Nathan Vidal and Eduardo Granados. They alleged the packaging misled them because the actual Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins lacked the decorative carvings pictured on the box.
U.S. District Judge Melissa Damian in Miami ruled the plaintiffs lacked legal standing. She rejected their claim that they overpaid by as much as 25 percent for the seasonal treat.
Fox Business reported the company made the packaging update after winning the dismissal. An earlier version of the same lawsuit was dismissed last September.
Damian was direct about what the case actually alleged. She found no claim that the candy itself was defective, worthless, or stripped of economic value.
Before the ruling’s key passage, the judge framed the injury in plain terms:
“Accepting plaintiffs’ allegations as true, it is clear that their only injury is their subjective disappointment,”
She continued:
“Plaintiffs do not allege that the Hershey’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins that they purchased were defective or worthless or that they lost all economic value because of the absence of the decorative carvings.”
In short, the candy was still candy. The buyers simply disliked that the molded peanut-butter pumpkins did not arrive pre-carved like a Halloween lantern.
Vidal and Granados said they purchased the product for the “novelty” of its “cool and beautiful carved-out designs.” When the treats arrived without those etched faces, they claimed they had been misled and overcharged.
Hershey had already told the court that the pictured carvings were presented as a decorating suggestion, not a guarantee of the molded shape. The new disclaimer removes any remaining ambiguity.
Plaintiffs’ attorney James Kelly said his clients were disappointed and planned to appeal. He framed the outcome as a loss for shoppers:
“Consumers in Florida deserve to get what they pay for, and it is troubling to see them left without protection,”
The court record shows they paid for peanut-butter-and-chocolate pumpkins and received peanut-butter-and-chocolate pumpkins. The missing element was artistic carving that never claimed to be part of the edible product itself.
Hershey has rolled out more than 20 Halloween-themed products ahead of the holiday. Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins remain part of that seasonal lineup.
Reuters had reported on the plaintiffs’ allegations the month before the packaging change drew notice. The company has not been quoted with a fresh public comment on the disclaimer itself in the available reporting, though it successfully defended the case on standing grounds.
The sequence is straightforward. Shoppers saw artwork. They bought candy. They sued because the candy did not look like the illustration. A federal judge said disappointment is not a legal injury. Hershey then labeled the package so no one can claim surprise next season.
Adults turning a Halloween candy wrapper into federal litigation is exactly how common sense gets expensive, until a judge finally says the product still works as candy.