Theresa May has labelled the fact that Cadbury has dropped the word Easter from its “egg hunts” as “absolutely ridiculous” - but a quick look at the National Trust and Cadbury website shows that Easter isn’t being entirely erased.
Cadbury’s website makes reference to Easter in relation to the hunt in several places, but the word does not feature on the logo for the event.
The National Trust website invites people to “Join the Cadbury Egg Hunts” before adding: “Join us over the Easter holidays to run through muddy woodlands, around mystical lakes and along nature trails on a Cadbury Egg Hunt.”
May told ITV News: “I’m not just a vicar’s daughter - I’m a member of the National Trust as well.
“I think the stance they have taken is absolutely ridiculous. I don’t know what they are thinking about frankly.
“Easter’s very important... It’s a very important festival for the Christian faith for millions across the world.”
Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu also accused the chocolate giant of “spitting on the grave” of its religious founder by removing references to Christianity’s most sacred festival from the spring event it runs nationwide with the conservation charity.
Sentamu told the Telegraph: “If people visited Birmingham today in the Cadbury World they will discover how Cadbury’s Christian faith influenced his industrial output.
“He built houses for all his workers, he built a church, he made provision for schools.
“It is obvious that for him Jesus and justice were two sides of the one coin.
“To drop Easter from Cadbury’s Easter Egg Hunt in my book is tantamount to spitting on the grave of Cadbury.”
HuffPost UK took a look at both Cadbury’s and the National Trust’s websites to ascertain the extent to which Easter was indeed being “airbrushed” out.
Firstly there’s the National Trust website...
1. This at the very top of their homepage
2. Also on their homepage
3. Oh and another homepage offering
4. The National Trust even added the word ‘Easter’ here to make sure no one was upset
5. Mentioned twice here
6. Easter crafts!
7. Oh look, another Easter reference
8. In fact if you visit the National Trust’s Easter events page, the word Easter appears 443 times
Let’s turn our attention to Cadbury...
9. That definitely says ‘Easter’ several times
10. Easter cookery!
11. Easter activities!
12. So it’s definitely an ‘Easter range’
13. Even the URL
We could go on and haven’t even included the social media accounts of either brand.
Basically, it doesn’t seem there’s exactly a dearth of reference to Easter on either site.
Many on social media have also pointed out that the brands don’t exactly seem to be abandoning the holiday...
A National Trust spokesman said: “It’s nonsense to suggest the National Trust is downplaying the significance of Easter. Nothing could be further from the truth.
“We host a huge programme of events, activities and walks to bring families together to celebrate this very special time of year.
“A casual glance at our website will see dozens of references to Easter throughout.
“Our Easter events include our partnership with Cadbury’s, which has been running Easter egg hunts with us for 10 years.
“They’ve proved consistently popular with our members and visitors. As part of its wider marketing activity at Easter, Cadbury’s will always lead on the branding and wording for its campaigns.”
Cadbury, which was founded by Quaker John Cadbury in 1824, told the Telegraph “we invite people from all faiths and none to enjoy our seasonal treats”.
Cadbury also corrected claims they had removed the word “Easter” from the packaging of their Easter eggs on Twitter.
May’s comments particularly caused a stir.
Many suggested that perhaps she didn’t quite have priorities right...