HOLLYWOOD— Actress Reese Witherspoon is being sued after “promising” free dresses to teachers in a giveaway her clothing company conducted on social media.
The Hollywood actress created a giveaway on Instagram in April via her ‘Draper James’ clothing company which stated,
”Dear Teachers: We want to say thank you. During quarantine we see you working harder than ever to educate our children. To show our gratitude, Draper James would like to give teachers a free dress.”
The giveaway required participants to provide specific information within a 3 day window and winners would be notified by April 7. The rules on the Instagram post also stated the giveaway was valid while supplies lasted.
Due to the high possibility that not every entry would win —being that the actress has 23 million followers and her clothing company’s account has 765,000 followers— three women put together a class-action lawsuit against Witherspoon and her company stating the offer was not clear enough, as the company ‘Draper James’ only had 250 dresses to give away.
Nearly 1 million teachers entered the giveaway and were all entered into a lottery to win a dress. The women suing claim that the total cost of the 250 dresses to be given away would only come out to an estimated $12,500 in actual cost to the actress’ company. Other points in the lawsuit include allegations that through this giveaway, Witherspoon and her company benefited from the publicity of the giveaway.
The women are suing on behalf of all participants who accepted the ‘Draper James’ deal.
