Swiss chocolatier Lindt & Sprungli has always charged premium prices for its self-described "excellence" and "finest ingredients" — but the company now says it was just kidding, after the discovery that its so-called fine ingredients allegedly includes heavy metals.
The gig was up after a US consumer group investigated and found high levels of lead and cadmium in some of its dark chocolate bars, leading to last year's class action lawsuit. But Lindt, in trying to wiggle out of the suit, said that its promise of being "expertly crafted with the finest ingredients" — which was stated on its packaging — was merely "puffery" according to to Fortune. Can't anyone take a joke?
But Lindts' flippant defense dropped like a lead balloon with the courts, which dismissed its motion to end the lawsuit.
From Fortune:
The court, which dismissed Lindt's motion, defined product puffery as "exaggerated advertising, blustering, and boasting upon which no reasonable buyer would rely".
Lindt's high profit margins are due to "the fact that consumers are willing to pay more for its industrial chocolates because of their quality image", the [Swiss newspaper Le Temps] noted.
The court decision said the plaintiffs brought the class action against Lindt alleging that the firm "deceptively marketed their dark chocolate bars as 'expertly crafted with the finest ingredients' and 'safe, as well as delightful', when the bars in fact contained significant amounts of lead".
Previously: Use this report to find chocolate with safer levels of heavy metals
