Cadbury advert: 'Intensely stupid' treasure hunt advert encourages children to dig up the countryside

Treasure hunt campaign encourages children to dig up countryside

The campaign webpage, which encourages children to 'go hunting for Roman riches', has now been taken down (Cadbury)

Cadbury has been criticised for an advertising campaign encouraging children to dig up treasure at important sites across the UK.

The chocolatier’s treasure island adverts urged youngsters to “grab your metal detector and go hunting for Roman riches”, naming sites in Somerset and shipwrecks in Devon where “treasure’s fair game”.

Archaeologists across the country dubbed the campaign “irresponsible”.

Dr Aisling Tierney, an archaeologist at Bristol University, highlighted that digging without permission is illegal and could lead to prosecutions, branding Cadbury’s campaign “intensely stupid”.

She said: “The campaign is aimed at children and family, and in different territories there are different laws on digging.

“It can cause untold damage to sites and monuments that are protected by law stringently, and by encouraging children to get their hands dirty by digging holes in the ground, Cadbury have not taken any consideration of the impact this could have.

She said Cadbury had not considered the depths of the damage that could have been done to archaeological sites.

Dr Tierney added: “There is an obligation for large, well-resourced, multi-national corporations to do their due diligence and meet the legal requirements, as well as their ethical and moral requirements.

“It’s not just about how much you can sell an item for, there’s a shared cultural heritage value as well.”

She said there had been a missed opportunity to work with Young Archaeologists’ Club, the National Trust or the British Museum.

She also expressed concern for for how artefacts would be treated if any were discovered, saying: “There are conservation requirements as well – if you’re digging material out of the ground like metals, they can oxidise very quickly, causing irreparable damage and disintegration if you don’t know how to deal with them properly, and Cadbury have given no guidance on how to do so.”

She added: “The archaeology industry is chronically underfunded, and it would absolutely be welcomed if they could take some of their huge profit margin and partner with groups instead of showing a lack of corporate social responsibility.”

Meanwhile, archeologist Dr Kristina Killgrove tweeted: “TFW it’s 2019 and a good idea to promote their brand by encouraging illegal excavation and looting. What in the world was @CadburyUK thinking?!? Take this down NOW!”

A spokesperson for Mondelez International, the company that owns Cadbury, said: “It was not our intention to encourage anyone to break existing regulations regarding the discovery of new archaeological artefacts and we are grateful this matter has been brought to our attention.

“We can now confirm that the webpage has been taken down and we are updating the content to focus solely on directing families to museums where existing treasures can be found.”