National Trust & Cadbury refute egg hunt ‘airbrushing faith’ claims
Melanie May | 5 April 2017 | News
The National Trust and Cadbury UK have refuted claims that they have forgotten Easter in this year’s annual egg hunts.
The two have partnered for 10 years in annual Easter egg hunt activities at National Trust locations, and have come under fire this week for allegedly dropping the word ‘Easter’ from this year’s activities.
The Prime Minister and the Church of England joined in, with Theresa May saying she was furious that the word Easter had been omitted from the egg hunts, both as a vicar’s daughter, and as a National Trust member. The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu accused the National Trust and Cadbury of ‘airbrushing faith’ from its egg hunts.
However, Cadbury’s site page for Easter clearly mentions Easter more than once, and according to the National Trust itself, there are over 13,000 mentions of Easter on its website alone. This was also pointed out by numerous people on social media.
A hunt for 'Easter' on National Trust's site only returns 13,500 results. Outrageous! pic.twitter.com/DXsfyhJ7Wk
— John Thompson, aka Johnny Five (@JTCHANGINGBIZ) April 4, 2017
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More than 250 Cadbury egg hunts will take place over the Easter weekend from 14th April with National Trust properties able to theme their hunts. All money raised goes back into conservation of the locations.
A National Trust spokesperson 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.”
We are not downplaying the importance of Easter in any way, with 13,000+ mentions on our website alone: https://t.co/b7LCyh7FwT
— NT Press Office (@NTPressOffice) April 4, 2017
Cadbury UK said:
“It’s not true to claim we have removed the word ‘Easter’ from our Easter eggs, it’s clearly stated on the back of the pack & even embossed on some of our eggs. We’ve also used it in our marketing for over 100 years & continue to do so in our current Easter campaigns and our support of the National Trust egg hunts.”
To clear things up, Easter is used across our promotional material, our packaging & has been used in communications for over 100 yrs ☺ pic.twitter.com/66hpDqOsft
— Cadbury UK (@CadburyUK) April 4, 2017
The National Trust, which does not run any other activities with Cadbury, said that its corporate partnerships enabled it to do things it would not have the resources to do on its own:
“As a charity, our own resources are limited, and by working with partners we can often achieve things that we simply wouldn’t be able to do on our own. Thanks to Cadbury’s support, all of the funds raised through our Easter Egg Hunts go directly to our properties hosting the events, helping to ensure we’re able to look after these special places for everyone to enjoy.”
What do you think?
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.