A graphic apparently from Tesco supermarket is spreading across social media that purports the supermarket will no longer be selling Easter Eggs that have the word Easter on the packaging, starting from next year, Easter 2017.
The graphic (below) claims that this is to not “antagonise any religious group”.
After recent events, as of Easter 2017, Tesco will no longer sell any Easter Eggs that use the word “Easter” on the packaging It has come to our attention that this is found to be offensive by members of certain faiths. Rather than antagonise any religious group, we will refrain from selling these products. For more information, visit
www.tesco.com/easter2017
08452462875
or visit tesco.com
It is a hoax, and contains no truth whatsoever. It was no doubt inspired by previous rumours that circulated in 2016 that were provoked by a misguided Daily Star article that had the headline purporting Easter Eggs has been banned in the UK, with fuelled many claims that chocolate companies – specifically Cadbury’s – were dropping the word Easter, something that was demonstrably untrue since the word Easter appeared on the packaging, on their website and on their social media channels in the run up to the spring holiday.
This is the second time we have had to address this type of asinine rumour in as many weeks, a rhetoric that capitalises on popular bigoted myths that British culture is being muted as it offends people from religious minorities. So, we have prepared this simple FAQ that anyone who is willing to grasp the truth can understand – though no doubt those with an agenda will simply ignore and carry on believing hate-filled fables.
Has any religious group in the UK announced they are offended by Easter, Easter Eggs or the word Easter?
No.
Have Tesco’s really announced they are not selling Easter Eggs because it antagonises other religions?
No. The graphic was not produced by Tesco. The web address doesn’t (and has never) existed, and the phone number doesn’t belong to Tesco. They have made no such announcement through any of their press channels, and have already dismissed the graphic as a hoax via their Facebook page.
We can confirm that this is a hoax.
Kind Regards
Ben – Customer Care
Do Easter Eggs still have the word Easter on them?
Yes. We did our own investigation and the vast majority of eggs still had the word Easter on them. Most packaging included the word twice – yes, including Cadbury’s eggs. We included photos in our original article on this hoax here.
A small number of Easter Eggs don’t have the word Easter on them at all, though this was also true in the 1970’s.
Have some products dropped the word Easter in recent years?
A small number of products have minimalized the word Easter, dropping it from the title of the product but still including it on the packaging. However we were only able to find a handful (out of thousands) of products that have done this.
Has that got anything to do with offending other faiths?
Again, no! No religious group has claimed they are offended by the word Easter, so there really is no reason why the word Easter would be dropped for this purpose.
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This is another example of common bigoted rhetoric aimed at the poorly educated with the sole objective of causing tensions towards those of a religious or ethnic minority. The assertion that British people have to silence their cultural values for fear of offending other religions and cultures has long been a popular weapon in the extreme-right arsenal, despite so rarely ever being true.
Yet many are so readily happy to believe it, and voice their outrage at such an apparent injustice to our own values. Some of these people have just been gullible, yet some are determined to believe this utter nonsense simply because it fits in nicely with their pre-conceived prejudiced views that are propped up by further myths and more scare-mongering that so regularly comes from a number of intolerant extremist groups.
Please stop falling for this nonsense. Easter isn’t being banned. Nor is Christmas. Nor are England football shirts. Nor the St. George flag. Nor are military uniforms in public. These are ALL hoaxes that we have had to debunk time and time again because people would rather believe the hoax that supports their narrow-mindedness as opposed to actually fact checking and discovering the truth.
