An outcry about Easter eggs

Fake news is quite a buzz word at the moment. This time the UK retail chain Tesco was at the receiving end of a spoof. It fell victim to an fake online campaign which claimed that Tesco would no longer sell eggs with ‘Easter’ on the packaging – for the sake of religious freedom. Shortly before Easter the retail chain denied it had done so and confirmed that the word would continue to appear on its products and that it would also continue to feature in their annual Easter egg hunts.

It was in fact an Easter egg hunt that recently drew attention to Cadbury. What had caused the stir – even reaching Prime Minister Theresa May – was the fact that Cadbury, which belongs to the Mondelez Group, had downgraded the Easter egg hunt to a simple egg hunt. The first one to express public irritation was the Archbishop of York, and his words were soon followed by an official statement from the Church of England. Finally, it was the Prime Minister herself – the daughter of a vicar – who expressed indignation on TV.

Cadbury has sponsored over 300 traditional egg hunts throughout the country for 10 years now. Year on year, they are held at National Trust stately homes. The National Trust, however, rejected such allegations and pointed out that the word Easter did in fact feature on its website. Cadbury had already hit the headlines a year ago because its confectionery packaging no longer mentioned Easter eggs, but simply called them eggs. Reacting to accusations from irate customers, Cadbury explained that the word Easter could still be found on the reverse of the packaging. They also pointed out that the packaging design was sufficiently Easter-like, so that everyone, including children, could easily associate the products with this most important Christian festival.

A church-based initiative in the UK markets its chocolate eggs as the real thing for Easter. The Meaningful Chocolate has been sold through the company’s web shops since 2010, and it is also available through churches, church institutions and schools. The chocolate egg comes in a folding box that also contains a 24-page booklet telling the Easter story. The company claims that it has so far sold over a million copies.

It remains questionable whether all the fuss in the UK will spill over to the European continent which has numerous examples of packaging without the word “Easter” on it.

LINDT decided to focus on a bit of wildlife for Easter in 2017. Their gold bunny is rather a wild creature this year. This season’s animal prints for young and old feature a safari theme, with gold bunnies in tiger and leopard costumes to put in Easter nests. But anyone who prefers a more classic theme can still opt for the traditional gold bunny that has sat on Easter tables throughout the world since 1952. The story goes that the cute little bunny was created after the son of a maître chocolatier at LINDT had spotted a rabbit in the garden, and when the animal scampered out of sight, the boy began to cry. To console the lad, dad made him a bunny out of milk chocolate, wrapped it in gold paper and tied at red ribbon with a little bell round its neck.

“Whenever the bell rings, you can easily find him,” said the maître to the boy. And this was apparently the birth of the company’s first GOLD BUNNY.

Milka is another company with a more traditional approach – though with a celebrity. The traditional purple Milka Smiley Bunny is presented in this year’s Milka Easter campaign by a celebrity couple: Jana Ina Zarrella (a TV presenter) and her husband Giovanni Zarrella (musician and TV presenter). The Milka ambassadors can be seen with their children, telling the audience how they spend Easter. For instance, with a few special Easter treats from Milka: a Milka Easter Spoon Egg and “My Favourite Smiley Bunnies” – one for girls, on a pink scooter  and another for boys, wearing a blue hat.

A touch of Easter magic is also apparent in the 2017 special limited packaging editions for Ferrero Raffaelo, Mon Chéri, Ferrero Rocher and Ferrero Küsschen (Kisses). The Italian confectioners have a wide variety of sweet gifts for all generations. Their online offer includes practical DIY instructions for one’s own Easter decorations as well as gift ideas, based on their products.
And of course, what would Easter be without Kinder Chocolate? As in previous years, their 2017 Easter products include colourful chocolate bunnies, giant Easter eggs, little sheep and Easter chicks – sweet treats that will bring a gleam to children’s eyes.