Class Action Claims Franklin Institute Deceptively Touted Terracotta Sculptures as Authentic Artifacts

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The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia finds itself as the defendant in a proposed class action case in which the plaintiff’s counsel says it discovered that, contrary to ad and marketing claims, more than half of the life-sized terracotta sculptures at the science museum’s “Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor” exhibit are actually replicas, not authentic historical artifacts.

The lawsuit sticks on the claim that nothing in the Franklin Institute's advertising and marketing of the exhibit, whether online or in print, indicated the sculptures were not those found in the tomb of ancient Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang. The plaintiff and other consumers relied on the defendant’s allegedly deceptive representations of the exhibit when buying tickets, the case says, and would not have paid what they did had they know the sculptures were replicas.

From the complaint:

“By marketing the Exhibit as an exhibit with authentic terracotta warriors, when it was an exhibit largely of replicas of the terracotta warriors, and by showcasing statues in its marketing materials which were either not in the Exhibit or which were replicas of the terracotta warriors from China, the Defendant misled consumers about [the] nature of the experience of surveying the Exhibit. The Defendant stressed authenticity in its marketing materials. The Defendant claimed that ‘symbols of the astounding achievements of mankind and the incredible history of mankind [came] to The Franklin Institute,’ on its website. It claimed that the ‘objects on display [were] priceless artifacts’ on its K-12 education guide linked on its website. It claimed on numerous posters and banners that it was displaying Terracotta Warriors in the Exhibit. Defendant indicated to consumers that they would be entering an Exhibit where all of the life-sized sculptures were originals rather than replicas. Instead, customers found themselves surveying an Exhibit where more than half of the sculptures were replicas.”