The Newest Cadbury 'Bunny' Is Actually A Frog. Here's Why

If you are married to the idea of having a bunny for an Easter mascot, what we're about to tell you could get you hopping mad because Cadbury has announced the winner of this year's Cadbury Bunny contest, and it isn't actually a bunny (via PR Newswire). It's a tree frog named Betty, who will appear in the seasonal Cadbury cream egg commercials for 2021. But fear not – to make it all a bit less confusing, Betty will be sporting a pair of bunny ears – just to remind everyone that Easter eggs can only be delivered by the Easter bunny, even if the bunny is sort of being cosplayed by a frog.

Betty is toadally special because in a vote for inclusivity, not only is she the first frog to be named Easter bunny, she's also blazing trails as the first female, and the smallest animal that has captured the title to date.

To be fair, the ribbeting list of contestants didn't just feature a Betty and a bunch of bunnies. Among a record 12,000 other applicants this year were a donkey, a miniature horse, and a goat. 

Betty isn't the first non-bunny to win the competition

This isn't the first year that the Easter Bunny competition hasn't featured ... well, a bunny. CNN reports that last year, Lieutenant Dan, an adorable, two-legged coonhound dressed up in bunny ears, stole the hearts of judges, and took home the title of 2020 Easter Bunny. Lieutenant Dan returned as guest judge this year, and we bet he wasn't about to froget the opportunities he enjoyed as Easter Bunny, thanks to a few open-minded judges.

Betty will be bringing home $5,000 for her human, Kaitlyn V., who is certain that her amphibian won't disappoint. "She has been a wonderful companion at college and thanks to the support of my friends, family, and the amphibian community, I know she'll make Cadbury proud as she inherits the bunny ears," she says in a release. Besides, if you really want this year's bunny to be a dog, we bet Betty can just dress up as a Croaker Spaniel with rabbit ears and pull it off marvelously.

Cadbury's American distributor, Hershey, says it will also be donating $15,000 to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to mark Betty's un-frog-ettable rise to Easter Bunny stardom.