USA: When ‘Liking’ a Brand Online or Buying it in Store Voids the Right to Sue

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“Please note we also have new legal terms which require all disputes related to the purchase or use of any General Mills product or service to be resolved through binding arbitration.”

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The New York Times
By Stephanie Strom April 16, 2014

Might downloading a 50-cent coupon for Cheerios cost you legal rights?

General Mills, the maker of cereals like Cheerios and Chex as well as brands like Bisquick and Betty Crocker, has quietly added language to its website to alert consumers that they give up their right to sue the company if they download coupons, “join” it in online communities like Facebook, enter a company-sponsored sweepstakes or contest or interact with it in a variety of other ways.

Instead, anyone who has received anything that could be construed as a benefit and who then has a dispute with the company over its products will have to use informal negotiation via email or go through arbitration to seek relief, according to the new terms posted on its site.

In language added on Tuesday after The New York Times contacted it about the changes, General Mills seemed to go even further, suggesting that buying its products would bind consumers to those terms.

General Mills makes Pillsbury items. The company said its Facebook and Twitter accounts were not part of its new policies.General Mills Amends New Legal PoliciesAPRIL 17, 2014

“We’ve updated our privacy policy,” the company wrote in a thin, gray bar across the top of its home page. “Please note we also have new legal terms which require all disputes related to the purchase or use of any General Mills product or service to be resolved through binding arbitration.”

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UPDATE: General Mills has reversed a controversial policy just a few days after posting new restrictions on consumers' ability to sue the food company, a move that stirred a media frenzy after The New York Times first uncovered the legalese.



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