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Ruling: “Crunchberries” are Not Real Fruit
I’m not sure whether to post this in Dinnercraft’s official “Legal” category, or in our “I am Growing Weary of My Fellow Man” category, but apparently a U.S. District Court judge in California has finally, FINALLY made a ruling on what we have long expected: The Crunchberries in Cap’n Crunch cereal are not, as it turns out, real fruit.
In her complaint, the Plaintiff in the now-dismissed case expressed dismay that the brightly-colored balls in Cap’n Crunch were not in fact naturally-occurring berries, but instead, tasted just like the rest of the cereal, but with a berry shape. Her complaint also described the manner in which the Cap’n is “thrusting a spoon” at the consumer on the product’s box as, “aggressive.” Take it away, Judge Morrison England, Jr.:
In this case . . . while the challenged packaging contains the word “berries” it does so only in conjunction with the descriptive term “crunch.” This Court is not aware of, nor has Plaintiff alleged the existence of, any actual fruit referred to as a “crunchberry.” Furthermore, the “Crunchberries” depicted on the [box] are round, crunchy, brightly-colored cereal balls, and the [box] clearly states both that the Product contains “sweetened corn & oat cereal” and that the cereal is “enlarged to show texture.” Thus, a reasonable consumer would not be deceived into believing that the Product in the instant case contained a fruit that does not exist. . . . So far as this Court has been made aware, there is no such fruit growing in the wild or occurring naturally in any part of the world.
Case dismissed, thank goodness. Read the full story here.
