If I'm not mistaken, you've asked this question before. The problem is with the line

my $name2 = Message->name( $message_obj );
[download]

This effectively invokes the name method with two arguments: the string 'Message' and the blessed reference $message_obj. The error happens when the function attempts to use the first argument (in this case, the string 'Message') as if it were a hash reference. What you want (I think) is

my $name2 = $message_obj->name;
[download]

Try that.

Update: Just to clarify. I don't want to give you the impression that invocations of the form Class_Name->method are always wrong. If method is a class method, that's exactly what you should do. In your example, new is a class method (and therefore Message->new(...) is correct), whereas name is an instance method. Hence the difference in the way they are invoked.