Handgun easter egg slammed as 'bad taste'

This loosely-themed Dirty Harry mug and gun Easter egg combo was spotted in The Warehouse, Whangaparaoa. Photo / supplied

An easter egg in a mug with a handle shaped like a handgun has been slammed as "bad taste" and inappropriate for children.

The Warehouse is selling the Make My Day Gun Mug online and in stores across the country for $14.49.

Shopper Sue Bates, from Whangaparaoa, was shopping in her local Warehouse store with her mother when she spotted the Easter egg yesterday.

"We were both shocked to see that kind of thing on sale. I couldn't believe Warehouse were happy to sell that sort of egg.

"I thought it was in bad taste and inappropriate for children, guns should not be promoted to youngsters, especially at Easter and with the recent shootings in the US."

In December Adam Lanza burst into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut and killed 20 children and six school staff.

Lanza killed his mother Nancy before setting off for the school and he killed himself after the ambush.

Warehouse public relations manager Gretchen Lowe said: "We have sold a range of movie star images on a variety of products over the last few years for events such as Easter, Christmas and Father's Day. This mug is purely a novelty item in a similar vein, themed with a wellknown phrase from the film Dirty Harry featuring Clint Eastwood.

"As a customer-focused retailer we ensure that we offer a full Easter range to meet all budgets and tastes, helping our customers to celebrate and enjoy this event," she said.

"While we acknowledge the tragic events in America we feel very comfortable in this context that we are presenting our product as a novelty item only, an item which in the past has not raised any concerns."

Jo Kelly-Moore, who is the Dean of Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell said connecting a gun with an Easter egg went totally against the true meaning of Easter and send the wrong message.

"The message of Easter is totally the opposite to the imagery concerned with this egg, the festival is about hope and new life and having a gun on an egg promotes violence and the ending of life.

"This is not an image we should be promoting in our world, we already have enough negativity around and this is just adding to it. Christ came to Earth to give us hope and peace and this goes against the true meaning of Easter and all Jesus did for us. We just don't need this kind of imagery in our community."