The name Miss Cleo has become synonymous with phony psychics ever since Youree Harris gained nationwide fame using a faux Jamaican accent for infomercials in the late 90s. Now, her past as a fraudulent fortune-teller is coming back to haunt her thanks to a new lawsuit brought about by her former employer, the Psychic Reader’s Network, for using the Miss Cleo likeness in a General Mills commercial for the return of French Toast Crunch.
Reports NYDailyNews:
The Florida-based psychic has been named in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by the Psychic Reader’s Network against General Mills for using her in their new French Toast Crunch commercials. In the commercial, Miss Cleo amazes callers by telling them they will soon eat a heaping bowl of the cereal.
Psychic Readers Network, based in South Florida, owns rights to the flamboyant Jamaican fortune teller, who is known for her thick Jamaican accent and colorful head wraps.
In the lawsuit, the network claims the commercial look almost identical to the Psychic Readers Network’s videos with Miss Cleo that aired in the early 2000s. According to the Associated Press, Psychic Readers Network says it has spent more than $100 million to promote the psychic since she started working as a company spokesperson in the late 1990s.
This isn’t the first time the network and Miss Cleo, whose real name is Youree Dell Harris, have been involved in a legal battle. In 2002, the Federal Trade Commission ordered Psychic Reader’s Network and its affiliates to waive $500 million in outstanding phone charges to callers who phoned into her psychic hotline.
Shouldn’t Miss Cleo have seen this coming?
Aside from the Miss Cleo spot, General Mills have been doing the most with their French Toast Crunch campaigns. Peep some of the more sensational ads on the next page as well as the Miss Cleo commericial.
—
Photo: French Toast Crunch YouTube
