The money behind the Easter bunny
Your Easter chocolate budget could go to a secretive multinational, or an artisan New Zealand operation.
The Easter bunny will emerge next weekend, all sweaty brow and pumped hind legs and with a fist full of cash. Prising open the wallets of parents around the country is physical work.
Eight more sleeps and you can chase the furry tailed hijacker-of-cash out of the house.
This won’t make for a good church sermon, but for me, Easter and money have long been highly correlated.
Back in the 1970s, Enid Blyton was the profiteer of my chocolate dollar.
Two wily parents claimed the rabbit was open to negotiation. Eggs or books? In spotting my desperation for titles like
The Faraway Tree, they foiled the delivery of many large eggs. With only two paws and a budget, he could carry a
book and a few marshmallow eggs in his pocket.
By the 1980s I was earning from the annual binge. There was a job at the local Griffins factory as an Easter egg sticker-together-er. Grab half a marshmallow egg, wipe it across a hot plate and slam it to another one.
Drop and repeat. By day two you stop stuffing them in your mouth and they all make it to the tinfoil team.
Decades on, I’m now boycotting all unstuck eggs. Cadbury shall not profit from such lazy mutations. They’ll end up like a biscuit-less Mallowpuff in no time. Look no further than the exquisite green-humped Roses peppermint chocolate. That woke up as an after-dinner mint.
Chocolate is clearly an emotional purchase. While gold bunnies, kiwis and squirrels fight for attention in the supermarket aisles this week, consider this; who benefits from your chocolate dollar?
Buying local and supporting our New Zealand chocolate industry is something many of us could consider. A switch to Rainbow marshmallow eggs made in Oamaru is one example. That’s shameless support for a company that manually sticks the two halves together.
At the luxury end of the market, New Zealand has some outstanding artisan producers. Hogarth Chocolate in Nelson produce the Andy Warhol Egg ($45) and Devonport Chocolate in Auckland, a Galaxy Egg ($65).
Before you shop this Easter, follow the chocolate drops and see where the profit ends up.
Janine Starks is a financial commentator with expertise in banking, personal finance and funds management. Opinions in this column represent her personal views. They are general in nature and are not a recommendation, opinion or guidance to any individuals in relation to acquiring or disposing of a financial product. Readers should not rely on these opinions and should always seek specific independent financial advice appropriate to their own individual circumstances.