Burger King, Taco Bell, Hershey Sued by Anthony Russo Over Alleged Misleading Ads

Anthony J. Russo Jr sued Burger King, Hershey, Taco Bell, and Arby's. In his complaint, he alleged the brands engaged in deceptive advertising to drive more sales.

Russo of The Russo Law Firm explained that 50 years ago, the confidence of American consumers in major brands was high, but they are now cautious of big names due to the ever-growing corporate green these days. He added that the existence of social media in this era has also empowered them to say anything about themselves.

What Pushed Russo to Take Burger King, Taco Bell, and Heshey to Court

Russo is a trial attorney specializing in representing people injured by the wrongdoing of other individuals or companies. He has handled thousands of consumer justice and personal injury cases in the last two decades and successfully defended lawsuits in Florida and the U.S.

He said that part of the reason for his decision to sue Burger King, Hershey, Taco Bell, and Arby's is that he receives at least 100 calls per month - from people who would like to go after these fast-food chains due to false advertising, as per Quartz.

"Trying to pull the proverbial wool over the eyes of the consumers, there is very little tolerance for that," the lawyer told the publication. "In my 30 years as a consumer justice advocate, my goal has been leveling the playing field for the average Joe consumer versus the big bad corporate mongrel company."

Misleading Ads Complaints

For the said fast-food restaurants, he said that the cases mainly include complaints about the size of meat patties in the burgers and meat in sandwiches and tacos. They claim the companies are putting in less meat than advertised.

For Hershey, the complaint was for a client, Cynthia Kelly, who sued the chocolate maker for $5 million. This case was also reported earlier this month.

NPR News reported at that time that Kelly claimed that in October, she purchased Hershey's Reese's Peanut Butter chocolate, which she described as "cute looking" Peanut Butter Pumpkins with a jack-o'-lantern wrapping. Still, she felt tricked because she thought the candy and the image on the cover did not match, as there was no "cute face" carving on the chocolate at all.

"This is a class action 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," part of her complaint reads.

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