Reese’s Confirms Pumpkin Packaging Change for Halloween
(KMDL-FM) Halloween is just a few weeks away. You can tell by all the Christmas decorations that are already up in the stores. But if you look in the candy aisle of your favorite place to shop, that's where you'll truly find the confirmation that Spooky Season has arrived.
Candy and costumes are always hot topics when Halloween is close at hand. One of the more popular trick-or-treat favorites comes from Reese's. I am so old that I still remember the original commercials for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.
We've come a long way from "You got your chocolate in my peanut butter", haven't we? How many different variations on the peanut butter cup theme do you think the Reese's folks have created? If you guessed "more than 100," you'd be correct.
READ MORE: For the Love of God - This is How Reese's is Pronounced
The popular Halloween version of the Reese's cup has come under fire recently, and the company has made a packaging change because of the controversy. You know Reese's makes Peanut Butter Pumpkin Cups, right?
Just by looking at that packaging, can you see what has "offended" some consumers? Okay, offended might not be the best choice of words. Let's go with "mislead" or "confuse" or "some people are just too picky".
Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins Aren't Carved
The problem has to do with the picture of the pumpkin on the package. By looking at the package, one could expect the candy inside to look like this.
If you've ever purchased or sampled a Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkin, you know they don't look like that. There are no facial features carved into the chocolate so that you can see the peanut butter within. To be honest, with the entire treat covered in chocolate, the candy looks more like a kidney bean with a tumor than it does a pumpkin.
No, you don't want to hear my description of what I think the Reese's Ghosts look like, and you certainly don't want to be enlightened by my slightly off-color opinion of what the Reese's Trees look like for Christmas.
Lawsuit Filed Because Peanut Butter Pumpkins Did Not Have Carved Face
Evidently, some Reese's Pumpkin purchasers were not thrilled with the fact that their pumpkin treats did not come with a carved face. It was carved on the package. So they sued, suggesting the company engaged in “unlawful, fraudulent, unfair, misleading, and/or deceptive” advertising. The suit included the other versions of Reese's holiday treats too.
The case was dismissed, but based on what we have seen in stores in and around Acadiana and confirmed also by an article that was published in USA Today, Reese's did concede their concession stand favorites.
They have now added a disclaimer saying "Carving not on actual product." This is a change from the previous disclaimer of "Decorating Suggestion". In the USA Today article that mentioned the dismissed lawsuit, one of the plaintiffs has suggested that there could be an appeal.
READ MORE: How Many of These "Old School" Ad Slogans Do You Remember?
In countries such as Japan, product packaging must accurately reflect the product inside. If you show a picture of a piece of candy on the label, it has to be actual size and look exactly like the product within. Perhaps if we adopted similar statutes in the United States, we could make this kind of litigation disappear.
Speaking of disappearing, do you recall these products? Do you know why all of them suddenly disappeared from store shelves and our daily mindset?
9 Things That Just Suddenly Went Away - How Many Do You Remember?
Gallery Credit: Bruce Mikells
