TINA.org Urges Investigation Into Hello Fresh

TINA.org recently announced that it had filed complaints with the FTC and the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, urging them to investigate Hello Fresh's marketing practices related to a campaign advertising "free" meals in order to encourage consumers to sign up for a subscription. The complaints touch on a number of issues we post about frequently, including automatic renewals, "dark patterns," and the use of influencers. Here are some of the highlights.

TINA argues that although Hello Fresh prominently advertises "free" meals, it doesn't actually provide consumers with free meals. Instead, HelloFresh merely provides consumers with a discount on a set number of meals over time. Notably, the marketing materials TINA attaches to the complaint include a disclosure explaining how the number of "free" meals is calculated. It will be interesting to see whether the regulators find that disclosure to be sufficient.