OPINION

In the U.K., Cadbury Ends Up With More Than Yolk on Its Face After Eliminating ‘Easter’ Eggs

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Mar 29, 2024
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

Since 2023 was filled with distemper and outrage, people hoped the new year would eliminate much of that, and in a way we got our wish. It turns out 2024 has become the year that Stupid reigns supreme. From airline DEI fiascos and Google rolling out a racist AI platform to an NYPD Dance team and Democrats losing their minds when Robert Hur reported he would NOT prosecute President Biden – this year has been one of repeated stunted thinking. 

And it only continues this holy weekend. Over in Britain there is a Cadbury confectionery controversy brewing, as the chocolatier has been accused of erasing Easter. The annual rollout of the famed chocolate and sugary-filled treat has seen a woke social controversy buried in the (plastic) grass. It was discovered in a shop that these eggs were being sold under a new designation: Cadbury Gesture Eggs.

There has been all manner of the expected blowback on social media. And predictably, the company has also come forth with an explanation, distancing itself from the uproar. Cadbury announced this was not a coordinated effort on its part, but an isolated incident the company is addressing and rectifying. But this brings about two reactions.

The first is in regard to the tiring practice of injecting wokeness into everything. Whoever, or whatever the entity was behind this move, it is yet another example of the attempt to shoehorn a degree of sensitivity, inclusion, or any other version of wokeness into a known entity. As I always say in times when this rears up in the film industry – don’t corrupt, instead just go make your own. 

There is a need to alter an existing property to conform with a specific social agenda, to which the obvious solution is instead of forcing “Star Wars” (as an example) to have checkbox virtue signaling characters, make an original property with your desired demographics. If you are so convinced there is an audience for that kind of representation, then go make your own space opera with transgendered non-binary polyamorous aliens. But those making these demands know they would not garner the funding, plus they would not get the same exposure for their agenda as they would by attaching their message to an existing success in a parasite-like fashion.

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So when it comes to the chocolate eggs, a similar reality is playing out. It is thought that the desire for this categorical shift was to be more inclusive, so as not to alienate those who do not celebrate Easter. But, as usual, in the move to be “inclusive,” it requires banishing a wholly larger segment. (There’s some marketing wisdom.) How about instead, try offering up a completely different product alongside the Easter eggs? Place your “Gesture Eggs” in different packaging on the same shelf, and then everybody is happy. But being woke is not about being happy; it involves the need to denigrate and tear down norms, so in order to be inclusive you need to first exclude, and thus Easter is sent out to pasture.

This brings up that second point. In response to the British backlash to the reclassification of candy eggs, Cadbury delivered a corporate press release to the BBC to wipe the yolk off its face.

This promotion is not Cadbury led and we had no involvement in any way. All Cadbury Easter shell eggs sold in the UK reference Easter very clearly on the packaging - sometimes multiple times. Cadbury has used the word Easter in our marketing and communications for over 100 years and continues to do so with our new Easter product range. To claim anything otherwise is factually incorrect.

This explanation falls flat when you see it is passed off as the move made by a solitary retailer, an independently run discount store in Springfields Outlet in Spalding, Lincolnshire. The Daily Mail has reported that more locations had been discovered to have the Gesture Eggs on display - at least five other stores at this point. Meanwhile, Cadbury is working at getting those displays altered back to read “Easter,” in correct fashion.

And just to keep that 2024 energy going, we have opponents to this decision also delivering the goods. One Christian spokesperson came forward to decry the company for making this decision, defending the sanctity of the holiday…and of the need for eggs.

Tim Dieppe, the head of public policy at Christian Concern, said Easter eggs were a "clear symbol of the Easter story". He added: "It seems very odd that someone would want to try and separate Easter from eggs. Once you do that, you lose the meaning of the eggs."

Well, we can all take a deep sigh of relief, firm in the confidence that the general public did not sit back and just allow an annual holiday tradition such as this to become bastardized and strip away the import of the holiday – from chocolate. This was a grassroots victory, and a corporation was made to bow to the public pressure in protection of all that is sanctified.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go reread the Gospels concerning the resurrection of Christ and find those references explaining the meaning of the eggs.