Traditionally, Easter is a holiday that is focused more on the religious aspect of things. There are many traditions leading up to Easter Sunday, however, in America, it has become a holiday that deals with a lot of fun colors trying to entice children to force their parents to buy food and toys. In other areas around the world, there is a much heavier emphasis on the religious basis and celebration of Easter. For example, in Greece around Easter time, there is constant excitement and preparation, yet you will not find any of the traditional commercialized products as in the United States. In the United States, there is commercialization in the use of chocolate bunnies, the Easter Bunny as an entire figure, and colored eggs (not including the ones dyed red which do exist in Greece). This is largely true for both Catholic Easter and Orthodox Easter. The Easter industry is a lucrative market in terms of the huge amount of money consumers spend.

  • According to NBC News, in 2017 Americans spent over $18.4 billion on Easter-related products.
  • According to The Morning Call, not only is the money spent on candy, but also many other elements. The breakdown includes $5.7 billion on food, $3.2 billion on clothing, $2.9 billion on gifts, $2.6 billion on candy, $1.3 billion on flowers, $1.1 billion on decorations, and $780 million on greeting cards.
  • Americans bought 146 million pounds of candy in the week before Easter according to WGAL News.

All this money spent on Easter detracts from some of the more traditional elements but does create a lot of profit for companies. Not only that, but some people also argue that commercialization can help create more fun, positive attitude towards Easter. Of course, candy, bright colors, and fun characters can make the entire holiday seem more appealing not only to kids but also adults who can become tired of the strictness of the holiday.

A typical display of Easter candy

However, on the other side of things, people also believe that this can take away from how somber the holiday is traditionally supposed to be. Despite these differing opinions, the commercialization will no doubt continue because of how popular the marketing techniques are among parents. It can be very difficult to excite children with the idea of heading to church, but candy can be sure to help with that.

Cally Mushka, an observant Greek Orthodox Christian and mother of two says, “The Easter bunny, chocolates, egg hunts, and candy take away from the religious importance of the holiday.” This further demonstrates that while there is some value to the commercialization, it can also hurt the traditional elements of celebrating the holiday.