Call to turn Easter Bunny into a healthy lifestyle pin-up

Public health specialist Dr Nathan Grills – who has previously argued that Santa Claus advertises unhealthy products to children and normalises obesity – says it is time to stop using the Easter bunny (EB) to promote energy-dense, nutrient-poor (EDNP) food.

“Although the EB’s delivery practices may provide a better role model than Santa’s, with its vigorous round-the-world hopping sustained only by carrots, the EB may have a more direct impact on obesity by promoting and distributing EDNP food,” Dr Grills said.

 “Excess chocolate has been linked to dental caries and obesity, and obesity has been linked to a significantly higher risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, gall bladder disease, liver disease, and heart disease and stroke, and to a small increased risk of cancer.”

Dr Grills uses a satirical style to raise awareness about more serious issues such as the unregulated marketing of unhealthy products to children.

The EB’s role is to sell chocolate to children and, according to the World Health Organization, such advertising contributes to children being overweight and obese and is an important area for preventive action, Dr Grills said.

To change this behaviour, Dr Grills suggests that:

• parents should be educated to protect their children from the deleterious effects of belief in the EB;
• better surveillance should be instituted to measure the EB’s impact on public health; and
• EDNP companies should be restrained from employing the EB as their chief marketing consultant to sell unhealthy food to children.

“Given the EB’s potential for good, it could become a public health pin-up bunny, supporting campaigns that encourage children to eat the recommended daily five servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit,” Dr Grills said.

“Chocolate egg hunts could become brussels sprout hunts! After all, the EB itself would advocate for this change, given that bunnies do not digest chocolate particularly well.”

The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

The statements or opinions that are expressed in the MJA  reflect the views of the authors and do not represent the official policy of the AMA unless that is so stated.

CONTACT:     Dr Nathan Grills                                   0011 91 9971 081 681

nathangrills@googlemail.com    (India is 4.5 hours behind Australia)