Reese’s Pumpkin Problem

We’ve already looked at the Strawberry Tart Tort and the 11-inch Footlong.

Now it’s Reese’s misleading pumpkin.

Halloween Candy

On the Reese’s wrapper, it looks like the peanut butter filling sort of oozes through a pumpkin’s mouth and eyes. Ideal as a Halloween treat, the image made the candy perfect for the holiday. Inside though,  we are told that the face looks like a blob. Calling it deceptive advertising, and adding other Reese’s candies, a Ms. Kelly from Florida took them to court. She claimed $5 million of economic harm.

The judge disagreed and dismissed the case. As she explained, “Put simply, plaintiffs do not allege that the products were unfit for consumption, did not taste as plaintiffs expected, or otherwise were so flawed as to render them worthless,…”

Our Bottom Line: Competition

Through its Reese’s brand, Hershey wants a hefty slice of the $13.1 billion of our Halloween spending. From this (Instacart) map, you can see its competitors:

Hershey is a massive firm that positions it on the right side of our competitive market structures scale, close to oligopoly. However, for Halloween, it seems closer to the monopolistic competition that gives it less market power. In a monopolistically competitive market, we have the competition half with many participants. However, the monopolistic part is what gives companies market power. A beauty salon could have a special stylist and a supermarket might have the best produce.

With Halloween candies, everyone has chocolate but Reese’s pumpkin is unique. They know a catchy candy grabs our attention, even if the wrapper says more than the actual treat:

My sources and more: Thanks to the Hustle for reminding me to return to what could be frivolous lawsuits. From there, the details of the recent decisions were here and the National Retail Federation had the facts on Halloween spending.