The Cadbury and Reese’s Chocolate Bunny adds have deemed it’s Easter season

Spring is in the air

Spring has not sprung but the Easter season is officially upon us. The Sunday when Christians observe the resurrection of Christ is still two months away but advertisers are milking the holiday even earlier than last year. Valentine’s Day was on February 14 and Saint Patrick’s Day will not be here for another month.

Even so, Easter baskets are already in the stores, and the commercials have begun. I saw the Cadbury Bunny twice on CBS and once on ABC in less than an hour. About 10 minutes later there was the Reese’s chocolate bunny merging with peanut butter as Marvin Gaye sang Let’s Get it on.”

Commercialism brings the advertisements earlier each year

I used to tell my children that when the television add where animals try out to be the creme egg bunny aired, it was officially time to celebrate Easter. This, however, was back in the days when the Cadbury bunny did not show his face until about two weeks prior to the spring holiday.

I always enjoyed his arrival which inspired me to go out and purchase chocolate for my loved ones. There was a time when one season followed another in succession but right now there are businesses that have discounted Valentine candy on their shelves, along with merchandise for Saint Patrick’s Day and Easter.

The original Cadbury commercial debuted in 1994 and had a parade of animals who were all auditioning for the role of the bunny. Among them was a camel, turtle, lion, and a cat. In recent years the ad has been cut t a 30-second version that shortens the fun.

I could not verify when Reese’s first ran the add with Marvin Gaye singing but there is a version of the commercial dated 2001. We live in a day and time where advertisers no longer want t for the usual holiday seasons and their motto is that if the consumer will buy it, they will promote it earlier and earlier. I was told this by an assistant manager for a local Family Dollar store.

DO we hate or celebrate?

Retailers are going to do whatever they can to make a buck, so this trend of celebrating holidays before their traditional time is going to continue. We can become irritated, black them out, fast forward or celebrate. I find that the earlier airing of holiday commercials makes the season last longer.

During Christmas I sang along when the Hershey kisses commercial came on television where the kisses play We wish you a Merry Christmas. When the grandchildren were on hand they would yell for me to come in the room because the Hershey kisses were on. One day I saw the commercial seven times.

The Reeses commercial where the chocolate bunny and the peanut butter combine to create Reeses cups is one of the first where a love song is utilized in order to sell a food product. There are many others that have been produced during the past year to promote snacks as well as restaurant. This marketing strategy could cause people to think of food when they hear the music rather than romance.

Holidays are up to the individual

Both of these commercials bring back fond memories of how my family embraces spring and Easter. According to Fun candy Facts, Chocolate candy sales during the Easter season total over 65 million pounds compared to 45 million on Valentine’s Day. Reese’s and Cadbury hocking their wares from February through April is going to pay off i a big way for both companies.

I choose to ignore the obvious commercialism and enjoy the humorous ads for their entertainment value. I wish the seasons would continue to be rolled in as others rolled out but that’s probably never going to happen again. I’ll just roll with the punches and extract the good out of each season as I see fit. After all, it's up to every individual to determine how they celebrate or not.