Sept 5 (Reuters) - Hershey urged a U.S. judge to

dismiss a lawsuit claiming it misled consumers about several

Reese's peanut butter candies, using its request to level a

broadside against what it considers baseless class action

litigation over product packaging.

In a Wednesday filing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida federal

court, Hershey said no reasonable consumer could believe its

Halloween- and Christmas-themed candies necessarily contained

the "explicit carved out artistic designs" shown on packaging.

The consumers suing Hershey expressed disappointment with

the lack of details on nine Reese's products, including

pumpkin-shaped candies missing eyes and crooked mouths, and a

football-shaped candy whose lack of stitching left it resembling

an egg.

But Hershey said the four plaintiffs ignored disclaimers

that such details were only a "DECORATING SUGGESTION," and other

images that lacked such details.

The company called it unreasonable to focus only on images

with decorative carvings as a "supposed guarantee" of how

Reese's candies actually looked.

"This lawsuit is yet another in a growing trend of baseless

class actions founded on nothing but a consumer's selective,

subjective, and result-driven interpretation of one isolated

aspect of a product's packaging without considering its full

context," Hershey said.

"Not a single plaintiff claims the product was unfit for

consumption or was anything other than what consumers have come

to love and expect from this iconic brand--a delicious treat,"

it added.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs had no immediate comment on

Thursday.

Many other consumer class actions target packaging claims,

such as whether products qualify as all natural or contain

enough of a particular ingredient.

The Florida plaintiffs suing Hershey, Nathan Vidal, Debra

Kennick, Abdjul Martin and Eduardo Granados, are seeking at

least $5 million in damages.

The case is Vidal et al v Hershey Co ( HSY ), U.S. District Court,

Southern District of Florida, No. 24-60831.