When I was in school, all my teachers usually answered my questions with “look it up.” So, I did. Eventually, I just got accustomed to looking things up, especially using the dictionary for spelling and building my vocabulary.
Lately, there seems to be a similar patterns in litigation, “…becoming at least the second court to recently cite the dictionary….” In a lawsuit for misleading advertising against Hershey, “[p]laintiffs’ lawyers claimed customers were misled because the products are placed next to chocolate bars in store displays.” Moreover,
Hershey’s packaging simple says “WHITE,” without claiming “white Kit Kats are made with the amount of cocoa that defines what is white chocolate. The Judge in the case looked up “WHITE” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary and “point[ed] out white is “the color of new snow or milk.” Consequently, the Judge decided that “[h]ere is no dispute that the Kit Kat White is, as the modifying adjective suggests, white in color….”
What does your packaging say?
Best business practice is to have all marketing be legally compliant with all applicable laws, Federal and State Advertising Law before launching the campaign publicly.
Friendly reminder: Substantiation + transparency = TRUST! Having legally compliant marketing campaigns and business builds trust. Any question? Feel free to contact me. https://calendly.com/audrey-advertisinglaw/30min
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