Cadbury's Campaign Spawn of PAS Back-patting

Freddo, the lootier sweet from Cadbury

An energy-snack for metal detectorists out in the fields maybe?

"A mix between a McDonalds Happy Meal and the original Freddo, the exciting new addition to the Cadbury* product range comes in a unique purple treasure chest that you need to crack open. Times are changing Inside the chest you’ll find an assortment of treasure alongside a fun toy "to inspire many adventures and a world of play".

Hmm.  Apparently "Freddo's Treasures" are some kind of low-brow plastic collectables sold with milk chocolate buttons in a garish plastic box, so tooth-rotting boxed with brain-rot.

And the distribution of this product is supported by a marketing campaign that really raises eyebrows (though apparently NOT so far in Bloomsbury). All that promoting of Treasure Hunting by the PAS in partnership with artefact hunters was bound to lead to this:

and, incitement to loot:

"grab your metal detector and go hunting for Roman riches"

This is just so outrageous....

Is that the point? Get everybody talking about tooth-rotting plastic toys by provoking scandal?

What I find symptomatic is that over the past few hours I have received a veritable storm of notifications of this by email and social media asking whether I am aware of it, what can we do to stop this (sorry, cannot reply individually), but not a single one of them copied in the PAS. I'd be interested to know how many such mails they received over the whole day from concerned colleagues and members of the public. More to the point, I am equally interested to see how PAS and the BM Press Department will react.

Meanwhile all who value the past and think historical monuments deserve respect should be urging friends and family members to boycott Cadbury's products.

*Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company wholly owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010.