Nearly three months out from Easter Weekend, chocolate eggs are already appearing on supermarket shelves, raising concerns the real meaning of Easter is being lost amid encouragement to overindulge in chocolate.
Progressive Enterprises owns Countdown, Woolworths and Foodtown supermarkets, and organisation spokesman Luke Schepen said some "old favourites" like Cadbury Creme
Eggs, suited to personal consumption rather than gifts, went on sale last Monday.
He said customers liked to have "those sneaky treats" in the lead up to Easter.
"That's why we have them on sale," he said.
Mr Schepen also said the supermarket's instore bakeries started baking hot cross buns in the first week of January. He said the Easter treats went on sale at the same time every year.
"It doesn't get any earlier or later, that's a bit of a myth."
However, Papamoa nutritionist Rachel Scrivin said having Easter eggs on sale months before Easter made it acceptable to eat chocolate regularly over a long period, rather than to mark a special occasion.
"It might be a different shape, but at the end of the day it's still chocolate, which is high in sugar and fat.
"There isn't any regulation on it, so of course manufacturers are going to offer it for the longest time possible to maximise profits."
Mrs Scrivin said selling chocolate eggs for months meant the meaning behind Easter eggs was also lost.
"I guess the fun goes out of it, you can have an Easter egg any time of the year really," she said.
The retired vicar of Mount Maunganui's Anglican Church, Reverend Marie Gilpin, said she did not begrudge businesses for selling Easter eggs long before the actual celebration.
"Well I sort of don't blame them, because that's business.
"What I do think is that when people buy Easter eggs for their children, unless they tell their children the story [of Easter], the meaning gets lost."
Rev Gilpin said she often heard people complaining that young people did not know the Easter story.
"The responsibility actually lies with the families to pass on that story if they want that tradition to go on."
Rev Gilpin said people wanted to "reap the benefits" of Easter, like the chocolate eggs, "without committing to being either part of that story or telling the story to their families".
