Swiss chocolate maker Lindt & Sprüngli Group (PPAI 384008, Standard-Base), known for selling “expertly crafted” products made with the “finest ingredients,” admitted these claims were conflated in an unsuccessful attempt to get a class action lawsuit dismissed.

  • Lindt products are carried by multiple suppliers in the promo industry.


The lawsuit was filed against Lindt in 2023 after findings from Consumer Reports found traces of heavy metals in some of the brand’s dark chocolate bars.

The company’s attorneys claim the use of the words “excellence” and “expertly crafted with the finest ingredients,” printed on its products, were unactionable “puffery,” according to global news agency AFP.

  • Different courts have given their own definition of puffery in a legal sense.
  • For example, the 9th Circuit defines puffery as “exaggerated advertising, blustering and boasting upon which no reasonable buyer would rely.”


Judge Ann M. Donnelly of the Eastern District of New York rejected Lindt’s motion for dismissal, noting that the marketing claims could lead consumers to expect a level of safety and purity that, according to the plaintiffs, wasn’t met.

“Lindt made claims regarding the ‘excellence’ of the chocolate bars and represented they are ‘expertly crafted’ and made with only the ‘finest ingredients.’ Lindt also represented that the bars are ‘safe.’ These partial misrepresentations could cause a reasonable consumer to believe that the bars did not contain unsafe levels of toxic ingredients like lead and cadmium,” Donnelly said in her decision.

In a statement shared with PPAI Media, Lindt & Sprüngli Group said that the puffery argument (as referred to by a few media outlets) is simply a “technical legal response” in a U.S. court proceeding; “it’s used to clarify that advertising challenged by plaintiffs isn’t sufficiently objective to support the specific false advertising claim being made.”

“Our U.S. attorneys used the puffery response in direct context to the allegations made by plaintiffs in the U.S. lawsuit, pointing out that the challenged label statements don’t mean what plaintiffs allege,” the firm said. “The challenged label statements actually mean what they say – ‘expertly crafted with the finest ingredients,’ ‘excellence’ – and our consumers can continue to have full confidence in that.”

Lawsuit Details

A group of plaintiffs from across the country filed a class action lawsuit in early 2023, arguing the messaging used during advertising was misleading. The plaintiffs claim that Lindt “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,” Fortune reported.

The plaintiffs’ reasoning was based on data from Consumer Reports, which tested 28 dark chocolate bars made by several top brands sold in the U.S., including Lindt.

  • All of the chocolate bars contained cadmium and lead.
  • Lindt’s Excellence Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa bar was found to have high levels of cadmium and Lindt’s Excellence Dark Chocolate 85% Cocoa was found to have high levels of lead.


Two of Lindt’s bars, sold under the U.S. brand Ghirardelli, were among the five classified as “safer choices.”

Although bars from other chocolatiers were found to have higher levels of heavy metals than Lindt’s products, the plaintiffs insisted on pursuing a lawsuit against Lindt because they paid higher prices for the brand because they believed they were “purchasing quality and safe dark chocolate.”

Lindt & Sprüngli Group told PPAI Media that “food safety and quality are paramount” for the supplier.

“We disagree with the allegations made in a current U.S. lawsuit. Lindt & Sprüngli quality and safety procedures ensure that our entire line of products complies with all applicable safety standards and declaration requirements and are safe to consume,” the company said in a statement.