Cadbury store accused of erasing Easter by selling ‘gesture eggs’

[dutchman]

Omission of the word on signs at discount outlet ahead of the religious holiday provokes anger among Christian community



A Cadbury store has been accused of erasing Easter by advertising chocolate eggs as “gesture eggs”.

The brand’s discount store in Springfields Outlet in Spalding, Lincolnshire, is displaying signs offering customers a two-for-£10 deal on “gesture eggs”.

The omission of the word “Easter”, particularly when advertising its popular Easter eggs synonymous with the religious holiday, has provoked anger among the Christian community.

“If it wasn’t for Easter, we wouldn’t have a reason for Easter eggs,” said Tim Dieppe, the head of public policy at Christian Concern. “So I’m wondering why Cadbury wants to erase the connection between Easter and eggs, because if people stop celebrating Easter then they might stop buying Easter eggs.”

He added: “I’m surprised that they are avoiding saying the word ‘Easter’, as that’s the time of year – it’s the Easter holidays, the Easter festival – and I’m surprised they’d want to avoid reference to Easter with things like this.”

Cadbury said the Springfields Outlet store was run “completely independently” by Freshstore and denied having any involvement in the “gesture eggs” promotion or poster accompanying it.

One dismayed shopper also posted a picture of the sign advertising “gesture eggs” to X, formerly Twitter, writing: “The world’s gone.”

It is understood that the eggs on display have been named as “Special Gesture” eggs, and “Easter” is still used in other areas of Cadbury’s advertising.

It is not the first time the chocolate company has come under fire for omitting the word “Easter” in its marketing.

A row erupted after a National Trust Easter egg trail, sponsored by Cadbury, was renamed the “Great British Egg Hunt” in 2017.

Cadbury said at the time it wanted to appeal to non-Christians, saying: “We invite people from all faiths and none to enjoy our seasonal treats.”

Meanwhile, staff at some universities have been told in recent years to avoid using the terms Christmas and Easter.

Staff at the University of Brighton were last year told that in future they should refer to the Christmas holidays as “the winter closure period”.

The London School of Economics followed suit, announcing that the Christmas holidays are to be known as “the winter break”, while Easter holidays were renamed “the spring break”.

[rebbonk]

Boycott them. The people have the power