Shoppers have been left divided after spotting Easter paraphernalia on supermarket shelves nearly four months early.
Waitrose customers were surprised to see the chain are already stocking one-kilogram bags of Mini Eggs. Posting to Instagram, Waitrose Woodley in Berkshire shared a video of two staff members copying a scene from this year’s Gavin and Stacey Christmas special to announce the return of the beloved snack.
Re-creating the wedding scene in which James Corden’s character, Smithy, left wife-to-be Sonia at the alter, one employee mouthed: “You ain’t gonna find better than me, Neil,” and held up a smaller bag of Mini Eggs. To this, the other – mouthing Corden’s line – said: “I already did,” before presenting the larger bag of chocolates.
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But some shoppers in the comments are less than impressed, saying that we need to “calm the f**k down” because Jesus “was only just born”. Someone expressed outrage that the confectionary was being sold “before New Year,” posting a face-palm emoji to show their disgust.
“Can you please just give us a small break?” another social media user said, stressing that Christmas was only a few days ago, and then we have New Year, then Valentine’s Day, then Easter, and so on for the rest of the year.
However, not everyone was so shocked by the appearance of the chocolates. An Instagrammer said that they were “out of stock everywhere,” clearly keen to get their hands on the kilogram of chocolate before anyone else did. But Waitrose Woodley insisted that they had them already.
A desperate supermarket shopper even penned: “Please tell me where in Cheshire can I buy them??? My nearest stores are Northwich and Sandbach?” One man said he wasn’t too fussed about the chocolate but asked, “Can we get 1kg steaks, please?” as an alternative.
Another pointed out, “4 months [away]…and yet, as someone who doesn’t even like Valentine’s, you’ve skipped it,” pointing out that Easter doesn’t fall until April 20 next year.
Another joked: “He [Jesus] was only just born [Christmas day]. Calm the f**k down before we bring out the Jesus death eggs.”
For many Christians, the eating of Easter eggs marks the end of the lent period, which is where “40 days are observed to represent the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert where he fasted and was tempted by the devil,” according to The Town Talk.
As a result of this, many Christians will opt to give something up over the lent period, for example, chocolate – and then when Easter comes around, they can allow themselves to indulge in the sweet treat.
In the video comments, someone even said that Waitrose’s social media was currently “on fire” thanks to the people behind it, and another added that the short clip was “pure cinema”.