The Eastertime resurrection of the Cadbury Clucking Bunny was annually guaranteed to raise a smile. Like the trusted barrel collared St. Bernard dog from Neo Citron commercials, the Clucking Bunny was a loveable mascot of industry: a signifier of not only delicious chocolate covered crème egg yolk ecstasy but also of a kinder era where loveable animal characters helped shift nuclear powered sugar highs and the fleeting nature of Easter itself was reflected in the limited availability of the candy.

Before the advent of the Clucking Bunny in the early 1980s, the crème eggs were sold to Canadians using disco infused roller rinks as a backdrop for their enjoyment (and rarity).

But after his debut appearance in 1982, the Clucking Bunny became a persona of the brand itself, with merchandise, numerous books and yearly, global rollouts of his new commercials, including this pleasant one from Toronto ad agency MacLaren McCann, who stated this was "a fun reminder that the Cadbury Clucking Bunny had done his job once again"

But something changed as we careened into the 2010s. Cadbury dropped the Bunny in favour of spotlighting the "Goo". Even worse, their whole Easter campaign has come under fire for seemingly glamourizing chocolate eggs pleasurably eviscerating themselves.

While their clever Canadian Facebook page is busy, many comments expressing disbelief at the current campaign of the "Here Today, Goo Tomorrow" self-harming eggs are going uncommented on, even though a quick look at Google logs that in Australia concerned citizens rallied against the campaign and took it to the Advertising Standards Bureau. Cadbury's Brand Director James Graham defends the strategy as follows: "This campaign's infectious sense of humour is sure to spread as each new execution is revealed." Sorry to say, we prefer the Clucking Bunny (and roller rinks) to maiming, suicide and executions.

Either way, Happy Easter!

Retrontario plumbs the seedy depths of Toronto flea markets, flooded basements, thrift shops and garage sales, mining old VHS and Betamax tapes that less than often contain incredible moments of history that were accidentally recorded but somehow survived the ravages of time. You can find more amazing discoveries at www.retrontario.com.