What do you do when your kids just can’t wait for the Christmas season for their gifts? Well, spring is almost here and it’s another convenient season for marketers to haul their booty into the stores and get kids to tug at their parents’ wallets.

So, of course it’s no surprise that the Easter Bunny is going to be the star in toy advertising in the coming weeks. He’s cute, allegedly cuddly, and up until recently he’s been sending kids to the dentist after telling kids that jellybeans and Peeps are good for them.

To no one’s surprise, the conservatives are not very happy about the commercialization of Christian holidays. Of course leaders on the right are “appalled” by marketer’s attempts at cashing in on Easter. Especially since it’s probably their most holy day. One conservative was quoted in an Ad Age article as having no problem with it, as long as kids are getting a chocolate cross with their gifts to reinforce the sanctity of the holiday. Uh, okay, whatever you say - I don’t think kids are going to be thinking of the significance of the holiday when served up on a candy stick.

A spokeswoman for Hasbro summed it up as a way to cash in on spring and the bunny is the universal mascot. The Bunny declined to comment, but the main issue behind all this is that the toy industry hasn’t been doing as well as prior years. Relying on the Christmas season for the year’s sales just isn’t cutting it. Kids these days would rather get an iPod than a board game, but that’s another story. Inventing a new gift-giving season makes it seem like toy manufacturers are really treading water right now.