Can the "reasonable consumer" determine if the Crunchberry is real?

First, though, let us take a moment to grieve for the famed Crunchberry, recently determined to be not real fruit.  Gasp!

A California woman recently filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court that she had been purchasing ”Cap’n Crunch with Crunchberries” for the past four years in the belief that she was eating real, live “Crunchberries,” and only recently became aware that they are in fact just sugary cereal.  The complaint centred on the ability of the “reasonable consumer” to distinguish between the obviously fake Crunchberries with a make-believe name, and real fruit.

The judge cited numerous examples of the manufacturer, Quaker, clearly indicating through its packaging that the product contains “sweetened corn & oat cereal.”  The judge went on to state that, “The survival of the … claim would require this Court to ignore all concepts of personal responsibility and common sense.  The Court has no intention of allowing that to happen.”

So, score one for the reasonable consumer.  And, score one for Quaker and Cap’n Crunch – so far into the hearts and minds of consumers that we almost added a new species to the berry family.  Almost.