Reese’s Halloween Pumpkins Return Unchanged After Hershey Won Lawsuit
LAFAYETTE, La. — If you were hoping this Halloween’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins would finally get the jack-o’-lantern face promised on the wrapper, don’t hold your breath. Hershey confirmed the candy is returning to shelves this month in its familiar smooth, oval shape, unchanged from the version that landed the company in court.
“We know what consumers love,” said Katie DeCapria, Hershey’s senior brand manager for Halloween, during a press event unveiling the company’s fall lineup. “We have not made any changes to the Reese’s shapes.” She called the pumpkin “the cornerstone” of Hershey’s Halloween portfolio.
Why Reese’s Pumpkins Ended Up in Court
The whole controversy started in 2024, when shoppers filed a class-action lawsuit accusing Hershey of deceptive advertising. Their argument was simple: the wrappers show a pumpkin-shaped candy with a carved jack-o’-lantern face, complete with eyes and a grinning mouth, but the actual chocolate inside is completely blank. Plaintiffs sought more than $5 million in damages, arguing they’d been misled into paying for a product that didn’t match its packaging.
A federal judge in the Southern District of Florida disagreed. In a ruling issued Sept. 19, 2025, U.S. District Judge Melissa Damian dismissed the case, finding the customers hadn’t shown they suffered any real economic harm. The candy might not have looked as spooky as advertised, the judge found, but it still delivered what a Reese’s is supposed to deliver: peanut butter and chocolate.
Hershey’s Going Bigger on Halloween, Not Smaller
Almost a year removed from that court win, Hershey isn’t just bringing the pumpkins back quietly. The company announced 20 Halloween-themed products hitting stores this week, which it’s calling its largest Halloween rollout yet. That includes the return of Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Creme Fangs, a vampire-shaped treat that sat out last Halloween, plus new KitKats shaped like a vampire count and a witch.
Hershey is also branching beyond chocolate this year with non-candy tie-ins, including LesserEvil pumpkin spice popcorn and LesserEvil cheesy corn balls dressed up in Halloween packaging.
Halloween Shopping Is Starting Earlier Than Ever
Part of the reasoning behind the early rollout ties back to a trend the industry has taken to calling “summerween,” Halloween-themed shopping that now kicks off in the warmer months instead of waiting for fall. Hershey says the holiday is effectively being celebrated for roughly a third of the calendar year at this point, as retailers stock fall products earlier and shoppers start buying sooner.
That shift shows up in the numbers. About two-thirds of the roughly 1,000 parents Hershey polled said they’d already bought Halloween candy this summer. And the spending backs it up nationally: Halloween spending hit a record $13.1 billion in 2025, according to the National Retail Federation.
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Gallery Credit: Dave Roberts
