Remember the 90s fortune teller icon, Miss Cleo? She is back and recruited by General Mills to bring fame to their French Toast Crunch. In the commercial the actress states she predicts she will be eating a bowl in the future, but the video will be hard to find, because General Mills is now facing a lawsuit from Psychic Reader’s Network.
An issue not foreseen by Miss Cleo, real name Youree Dell Cleomili Harris.
In the 90s, there was Miss Cleo and there was French Toast Crunch. Both made big waves, and exited the scene as the years progressed. In honor of its return, General Mills wanted to add another icon around the same time. Psychic Reader’s Network claims the rights of Miss Cleo belong to them, and they did not grant permissible use of those rights to General Mills or Harris.
The Psychic Reader’s Network is looking for payback, claiming they spent more than $100 million since the late 90s to promote Miss Cleo. The company states Miss Cleo Creatives was copyrighted back in the early 2000s, and General Mills failed completely at reaching out to the company for that confirmation.
Harris’ attorney claims the company never presented documentation to his client that dictates she could not use her character in future endeavors.
The attorney representing the Psychic Reader’s Network, Joel Dichter, said General Mills showed a “disregard for the intellectual property rights of others.” Once the lawsuit was filed, General Mills promptly removed all ads, videos and social media postings depicting the Miss Cleo character.
Psychic Reader’s Network operates under Access Resource Services, the company has suffered claims of fraud in previous years. Back in the early 2000s, numerous lawsuits were filed against the company, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged the company with deceptive practices and collection policies. It also came to light Miss Cleo was not Jamaican, ending her long-time run as an infomercial favorite.
The lawsuit against General Mills from the Psychic Reader’s Network is still in process. A representative from General Mills has declined comment, citing pending litigation.
This is a video from the late 90s featuring Miss Cleo