When gourmet chocolate... isn't

 

Lindt chocolates have long marketed themselves as a high-class, upper-crust sort of confection.  Unfortunately, they've just shot their own marketing in the foot.

Lindt, a gourmet chocolate brand, said its delectable goodies are not “expertly crafted with the finest ingredients,” as the packaging suggests.

The Swiss company confessed in an attempt to get a lawsuit against it dismissed, but it backfired when the Eastern District of New York court denied the effort.

Lindt found itself in a sticky situation in 2023 after a US consumer organization reported alleged high levels of lead in its dark chocolate bars.

. . .

Although Lindt isn’t the only brand with lead inside its goods, consumers were frustrated that they were paying significantly more for the chocolate, which promised “quality and safe dark chocolate.”

To combat the accusations, Lindt’s lawyers clarified that some of the product’s components were exaggerated, such as the “excellence” in quality and experts’ involvement in fusing the ingredients.

Disappointed by the company’s actions, the Eastern District court deemed the product to have “exaggerated advertising, blustering and boasting upon which no reasonable buyer would rely.”

There's more at the link.

In a highly competitive market such as gourmet chocolates, that's a pretty damning admission.  I won't be surprised if competitors use it in their own advertising, comparing their products favorably to their Lindt competition.  They can't be accused of negative campaigning, after all, since Lindt has publicly admitted to their own faults and errors.

I'm all for truth in advertising.  Next thing you know, Godiva Chocolatier will be forced to admit that their confectionery wasn't actually paraded naked on horseback through the streets of Coventry!

Peter