CEN The ad shows a celebrity rabbit family with a dad, mum, son and daughter

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The campaign - for retail giants Hema - shows a celebrity rabbit family with a dad, a glamorous mum, a son and a daughter. In the ads, they are helping the store hide and find eggs in their shops all over Holland. During a fake behind-the-scenes video, the family - played by actors - pose for snaps in a studio with the daddy rabbit Charles sitting in an armchair.

Who says that the Easter Bunny is heterosexual? Chantal Coolsma

He is flanked by his adoring wife Juliette and their children Richard and Innez. The ad goes on to show the mummy rabbit pulling model poses for the cameras. But the charming family oriented ad for the Easter break has come under attack from critics who say it is sexist and too heterosexual.

CEN In the ads they are helping the store hide and find eggs in their shops

Green party politician Mirjam de Rijk was furious at the ad's description of the mummy rabbit as "the bunny all men love". She branded the ad thoroughly sexist and said Hema "should be ashamed". One commentator, who says she is homosexual and who was named as Chantal Coolsma, added: "Who says that the Easter Bunny is heterosexual?"

She added: "As a child I grew up with the image of a single Easter Bunny who hid Easter eggs. Why must there suddenly now be a family involved? "I think retail has gone too far with the Easter experience. Easter is more and more shown as the celebration where you need to dine with your entire family, just like Christmas." But Hema - which has seven shops in the UK - says it is baffled by the criticism.

CEN Hema is baffled by the criticism

Spokesman Arnold Drijver said: "Hema is happy that the Easter Bunny family wanted to cooperate with the Easter campaign." He added: "Besides that, the Easter Bunny family and Hema especially want to make it a happy Easter celebration for children."

CEN The mummy rabbit poses as a model for the cameras