The headline on the front page of yesterday’s Daily Star screamed Easter eggs are banned. Well, at least having the word Easter on them is by several big brands including Cadbury’s, Green and Blacks, Nestle and a few of the big supermarkets. It is reported this is to avoid offending other religions.
Of course this has caused a flourish on social media, causing a lot of people to start up with racial hate messages. A
s usual, the sheer stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me. Before jumping on the prejudice band wagon, try to remember that the Muslim community (who are of course being targeted by haters using this as another reason to justify their actions) didn’t make this decision, the brands producing the products did.
I would like to point out here that I do believe the majority of people spreading messages of hate are probably not representative of every Christian, just like the extremists aren’t representative of every Muslim. I think both sides are equally guilty of hiding their views behind a fake wall of religion.
It should also be mentioned that The Daily Star is not a reputable source – it could well be it’s completely fabricated, or at least that it has been twisted into something it’s not.
My thoughts on the word Easter offending anyone is simple. If it offends you, don’t buy Easter eggs. There are many words far more offensive in the English language than Easter.
I can however, understand why the brands are taking this stance (if indeed they are).
In truth, they probably don’t particularly care if someone is offended, it’s more a case of not wanting to reduce their potential purchasers. They want to maximise profits and if changing the wording on the packaging slightly ups sales, of course they are going to do it.
People will make a fuss at first, but they’ll still buy the eggs. Cadbury’s Cream Eggs have never had the word Easter in them, nor have Cadbury’s Mini Eggs to name a few, and both still sell.
Now here is my real annoyance with all of this. Eggs, chocolate or otherwise, are absolutely nothing to do with the Christian festival of Easter. Nothing at all. Christians believed Jesus was crucified and then resurrected. What does that have to with eggs? Nothing. At all.
The tradition of giving eggs at Easter was another strategic move on the part of the Christian movement to eradicate Paganism in England by taking over their festivals. The egg is a symbol from the Pagan festival of Oeuvre, a celebration of fertility, which was celebrated in early spring and over taken as Easter.
The idea of chocolate eggs is nothing more than an extremely clever marketing campaign from chocolatiers.
So unless you are a Pagan, the egg means nothing except being able to eat chocolate.
So if you are a Christian, then protesting the removal of the word Easter from eggs is actually defending the symbolism of a religion you claim not to believe in, the very religion that early Christians worked hard to stamp out.
In conclusion, whatever religion you are (or aren’t) don’t let a marketing decision by big brands become a platform for spreading hate. If you are offended by the decision, vote with your purse and don’t buy the eggs. And speak out, we all have a voice as consumers. Just speak out in a way that doesn’t spread a message of hate to people who had no influence on the decision.
What are your thoughts on this? I would love to hear them. If you disagree, I would still like to hear your thoughts, all I ask is that we all keep them civil. Let me know your thoughts in the comments 🙂
You can find me here: Twitter Facebook Bloglovin Pinterest and Instagram Please do stop by and say hi!
Cadbury Easter Creme Eggs have never had the word “Easter” on them? To be truthful, I’ve eaten them so quickly I never noticed the wrapping at all 😉
Personally, I just think some people like to complain. If there’s nothing to complain about, they create an insult.
Now if Cadbury was to remove the Creme Egg fro m the market because people complained about the super-sweet centre, then I will rise up in protest 😉
Although originally introduced at Easter, the cream eggs have never had the word Easter on them, probably so they can sell them all year round.
I agree, the people complaining would have found something else to complain about if not this!
If that ever happens, I am with you on that protest lol 🙂
I’m a little torn on when things like this happen. On the one hand, inclusion is great, but on the other, why does it seem like everyone is getting so insistent on, I don’t want to say erasing because that’s not it, but reducing the various Christian holidays. Yeah, eggs and rabbits are pagan things Christianity high jacked to get more pagans to convert and a lot of Christian holidays aren’t that religious anymore to a lot of people, but before all this no one seemed to have a problem with those holidays being Christian in nature. Or maybe they did and there just wasn’t the internet to complain about it on.
I guess without someone doing a survey to find out, I can’t really say. But I do agree with you. If you don’t like it, vote with your wallet, go online and complain, but for the love of all that is humanity, don’t be a dick about it.
I’m not at all religious but I am respectful of other people’s choices.
You’re 100% right. Easter eggs have chuff all to do with Christianity so I’ve got no idea why people are so outraged by this…unless, as you mention, they are pagan.
Spring for me just means new life. New beginnings. The earth springing back to life. The Easter eggs are a bit of fun for the kids and that’s as far as I go with those. I don’t see why they need to have Easter written on them and if people don’t like it and feel that strongly about it, don’t buy them.
As you said, it’s corporate greed and we can either choose to understand this and be sensible about it or play the blame game and point the finger at each other and different religions.
Fab post and an important debate.x
I’m not religious either, but I would still defend something that goes too far, like if they banned bibles for instance, but as chocolate eggs have nothing to do with Easter, I don’t see what all the fuss is about.
That’s spring for me too, it’s the Earth refreshing it’s self and yes the eggs are a nice treat regardless of what they are called.
I think some people (and some publications) are just looking for a reason to spread hate and this gives them one.
Thank you 🙂 x
I was fooled into going on an activity morning at a church today. They linked the egg into the story of Christ… Said it was the symbol of the stone that was over the cave where he was buried and that the egg resembles new life in the form of chicks…
Go figure that one. I’m not religious so I don’t care either way but it’s nice to know there are old folk filling children’s brains with nonsense out there!!?? #effitfriday
Wow, that’s a stretch of the imagination! I’ve never heard that one lol 🙂
I didn’t know that the egg had anything to do with a Pagan holiday but knowing what I know about Christianity and all of the converting early Christians did back then to eradicate Paganism, I’m not at all surprised. I actually wrote a piece on Easter for #effitfriday. If you read it, let me know what you think. I learned something new today Debbie, thanks to you:-)
Just another symbol they stole lol! Oh I’ll check it out, I do love a good rant 🙂
I really enjoyed this post! I didn’t know where the egg thing came from! It makes sense it was a pagan holiday – much like the tree at Christmas! I hadn’t heard about removing the word Easter. I hope they don’t for the simple reason that over political correctness leads to all sorts of crazy issues – there is plenty of that in the U.S. It can make it impossible to openly celebrate any holiday. You’d think everyone could accept each other’s holidays – especially a bit of chocolate! #effitfriday x
Thank you 🙂 Most Christian festivals (in fact all the ones I can think of) have their roots in Paganism. I do think we are going too far with the politically correct stuff though. If people are so easily offended that a word on a box offends them I think they probably need therapy of some sort! Exactly, we should be all able to get along and I agree if there’s chocolate it can only be good whatever your religious beliefs! x
Eggs are a symbol of new life – hence the connection with Easter – like many Christian festivals (Christmas, All Saints & All Souls) celebrated at the same time as older Pagan holidays. Easter itself was originally a Pagan fertility goddess Oestra.
I highly doubt the word Easter will be banned – the same nonsense was bandied about over Christmas a few years ago.
This country is still officially a Christian country after all. It’s just bullshit used to stir up anti-Muslim sentiment.
Ha, ha, ha! Debbie, I love it for all of the reasons and perspectives that you present. Happy Easter to you, my dear! Thank you for this gem.
Thank you 🙂 Hope you had a lovely Easter!
I think an empty egg is supposed to symbolize the empty tomb, and at some point they started to paint the eggs red to represent His blood. I couldn’t tell you who decided that pastel colors and mini chocolates inside were OK, but I’d bet it was somebody who made money off it
I guess they have to make up some cover story lol! And yeah, definitely a money thing making the eggs chocolate!
Showcase Tuesday Week Four - The Blog Centre
[…] for 2016, did you know these Easter Facts shared by a Stressed Mum and My Random Musings has this brilliant post on removing “Easter” from the wrappers on Chocolate Eggs! Another informative post by […]
Funnily enough, living in a Muslim country, we have still have Easter Eggs in all the major supermarkets. We went to a hotel for a dinner on Good Friday and there was a massive bush structure of the Easter bunny……
Hate breeds hate and the reality I’m personally living is that everyone is accepting of everything. At the end of the day we are all people.
I wouldn’t have expected Easter to really be a thing where you are. It’s good that it is though and all cultures are catered for. The trouble here is the media only reports the bad so that’s all people see