Kelly V. The Hershey Company

Hershey’s Company was recently sued for $5 billion for false representation. One may question how a candy company could get sued because of the depiction of their product. The Hershey Company is well known for many chocolate and candy products, including Reese’s Peanut Butter products. Cynthia Kelly filed a class action lawsuit against Hershey “for 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 v. The Hershey Company, 2023, p. 2). This case is an example of product misrepresentation; a branch of fraudulent misrepresentation. Product misrepresentation can affect many people, including myself, and regarding its implications,

457). This can be summed up to say that if a seller sold a product that appeared different than what was advertised knowing it was false, and the buyer bought the product because of how it was portrayed, it is fraudulent misrepresentation. In Kelly v. The Hershey Company, the plaintiff can make a case for fraudulent misrepresentation. Firstly, the representation has to be fact. According to Prince, “failure to disclose facts may amount to a false representation” (2006, p. 266). The Hershey Company failed to disclose that their product did not contain carvings. The plaintiff must also prove the reliance was justifiable (Owen, 2000, p. 72). This helps check that the misrepresentation was factual rather than an opinion and whether it was material or trivial (Owen, 2000, p. 76). Kelly and the general population that bought Reese’s candy were reasonable customers and were misled for reasonable reasons. Secondly, the representation must be false. The plaintiff must show that the defendant’s product representation was not fully the truth (Prince, 2006, p.