"Happy Easter"

Food is an integral part of every persons life. Food should bring people together, it should be a link between generations, and a way of sharing cultures. For generations the family meal has been the center of every holiday occasion, it carries traditions of the matriarchs cooking together, and the patriarchs watching the game. Food has been the medium by which community travels and families grow. Recently however, food marketing has become one of the largest industries in modern America, making millions of dollars by imitating and creating an artificial sense of community through advertisement. Food companies utilize such traditions and attempt to integrate their products into such festivities. They market their product to the "Christian (or pseudo-Christian)" majority, pushing to sell premade happiness and community to the masses. Making their product as much of a staple in the holiday as the sense of community that is created through the act of coming together. It is currently the Easter season and a holiday for a very large part of the American community. I was recently at Baskin Robbins and I noticed an advertisement for a cake shaped and decorated like a purple Easter Rabbit. The caption on the poster was simply "Have a Happy Easter," in a light pastel yellow, pushing the advertisement towards the predominately Christian part of society. The cake was right below it on a neutral light pastel purple background. Around the rabbit were little Jelly Bellies that looked like little Easter eggs. The advertisement was done very simply, the pastel colors bringing images of Easter and spring to the viewers mind. The image of the playful rabbit was made to look cute and innocent, almost too animated to eat; grabbing kids attention. Furthermore, the cuteness of the rabbit also encouraged nostalgic memories of Easter Sunday, reminding parents of Easter egg hunts they participated in as a child and the sense of community around searching for the elusive eggs. The most important part of the advertisement was the caption; it perpetuated the idea that a family could only have a happy Easter if they had this novel cake. Furthermore however, the caption marginalized anyone who does not celebrate Easter. It assumes, through Christian privilege, that because one is in America they must therefore celebrate Easter even though it is in essence a Christian holiday. While the advertisement was meant to create a sense of goodwill, it in reality emphasized the importance of the majority and showed how advertising focuses on making money instead of being inclusive and how the modern consumer would rather buy consumable happiness then spend the time working together to make something special. Another interesting Easter advertisement I stumbled upon was the 1999 Marshmallow Peep television ad. The ad again uses a pastel color pallet, playing to colors associated with not only the spring season but also with Easter. The Peeps are dancing on a giant stage with their own theme song; this leads to the idea that for Easter, Peeps are the glamorous and cool candy to have. At the end an Easter basket comes down from the ceiling containing three packets of different colored peeps- classic yellow, red, and blue. This multi color assortment of Peeps is in direct response to the song that all the Peeps are dancing to; in which one part of the lyrics goes "marshmallow, not just yellow," and one of the Peeps on the screen changes to blue. The assortment of different colored Peeps plays to two important American themes: firstly the idea that a larger selection is always better, and secondly the idea that boys might not like red ( or "girly colored Peeps) and girls night not like blue (or " boy colored" Peeps), perpetuating the idea of a binary gender system instead of a gender system in which gender is seen as a continuum. The song also has a lyrical portion that goes, "It's just not Easter without those crazy Peeps." This portion of the song suggest two very important things to the viewer: firstly the quite literal meaning of the lyrics- that it is not the religious beliefs, the sense of community, nor the bonding that comes from spending time with those important to you that makes the holiday important, but these little marshmallow creatures that make Easter what it is. Secondly, and perhaps not quite as obvious, is the idea that Peeps are only for people that celebrate Easter, it marginalizes huge sections of society, enforcing the artificial walls built up around religion, and, once again, reinforces Christian Privilege. The two advertisements show important insights into our current food culture here in America. The first is the movement away from the experience and bonding created when a meal is cooked together. Both advertisements push the idea that a "Happy Easter" is found in the product and therefore can be bought; that the happiness no longer comes from the time spent together but from a sweet treat. Second it shows that our food culture is still dominated by the old fashion, Christian American dream. Because our beliefs are still so closely associated with the invisible Christian Privilege which permeates our society, seasonal advertisements for food play to whatever is closest to "the American Dream." In winter, ads use Christmas as a selling point, in spring, it is Easter, summer, it is the 4th of July, and in fall, Thanksgiving. While it is fine for advertisements to play to the current holiday, they need to change and evolve to be more inclusive. Instead of having a poster that reads "Happy Easter," why not a poster that reads "Hopping into Spring;" or instead of insinuating the idea that Peeps are what make Easter, why not encourage the idea that Peeps are fun treats for boys and girls regardless of age? If companies change their advertisements to be more inclusive, not only will they reach a larger audience, but they will also stop marginalizing huge portions of society. When advertisements stop reinforcing separations within society, and instead work towards creating a community that celebrates together regardless of societal differences; an exodus from flawed food values can occur and a return to the community builder food is can occur.