You ever get back to your dorm from a long day of classes and just want to shovel the absolute quickest meal you have into your mouth? So you heat up a cup of Velveeta Shells & Cheese. After filling up to the marked water line, you throw it into the microwave. The side of the container says ready in three and a half minutes, so thats what you tap into the number pad.
After an eternity, the machine beeps, but you still can’t scoop the cheesy goodness into your mouth yet. You have to let it sit for a minute to let the sauce thicken and slightly cool. By the time you sit down to enjoy it, it’s been much closer to five minutes. You’re slightly peeved, probably from the hunger, but also from how long this dinner took to make.
A woman is suing Kraft Heinz for misleading advertising
Well, a woman is Florida is suing parent company Kraft Heinz for just that. The brand markets the easy meal as being ready in three and a half minutes, but after all the other prep work (stirring, adding water, letting it sit), it takes longer, Amanda Ramirez alleges in a 15-page class action lawsuit.
“As a result of the false and misleading representations, the Product is sold at a premium price, approximately no less than $10.99 for eight 2.39 oz cups, excluding tax and sales, higher than similar products,” the court filing reads.
These days, with the price of groceries going up, many people are trying to “stretch their money as far as possible when buying groceries,” Ramirez’s legal team said, adding that she wouldn’t have bought the product if she had known that the promise on the label — to be ready in three and a half minutes — wasn’t the truth.
What is the Velveeta lawsuit seeking?
Consumers who have bought the mac and cheese cups recently could get a little of the dough back, if the lawsuit is successful. Ramirez and the other plantiffs from Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah, New Mexico, Alaska, Iowa, Tennessee, and Virginia are seeking $5 million in damages.
What did Kraft Heinz say in response?
In a statement to NPR, The Kraft Heinz Company said the lawsuit was “frivolous” and it “will strongly defend against the allegations in the complaint.”
But Ramirez’s legal team has no plans of backing down. “Deceptive advertising is deceptive advertising,” said Will Wright, one of the lawyers, to NPR. “There are a lot of people that may feel this is just a little fibbing and not really a case and I get that. But we are striving for something better. We want corporate America to be straightforward and truthful in advertising their products.”