UK Bakery Chain Greggs Apologizes For Using A Sausage Roll As Baby Jesus In Nativity Scene
The British bakery chain Greggs has apologized after a scene in their newly released advent calendar was deemed offensive by Christians across the country and the internet. The calendar (which is a departure from the chain's usual baked goods, sandwiches, and hot drinks) features 24 doors that, when opened, reveal a token (rather than cheese) that can be torn off and redeemed at any local branch (there are over 1,700 in the U.K.).
Behind each tear-off token door are Christmas-themed pictures, each depicting classic winter holiday scenes that highlight Greggs products: Three wise men follow a cupcake in the sky, a miniature Greggs bakery sits in a snowy snow globe, a woman kisses a baked pastry under some mistletoe. Most of the images are silly, but one in particular has certainly ruffled some feathers.
In the picture the three wise men are gathered around a manger which holds not the baby Jesus but instead a Greggs sausage roll. The image was meant to be a lighthearted joke, but found to be offensive by a number of people who pointed out that because Jesus was Jewish, it would have been forbidden for him to eat pork.
Out of interest do you think the people at Greggs understand that Jesus was Jewish and serving up a pork sausage roll in the manger is unbelievably inappropriate?
— Beth Rosenberg (@bethvaughan15) November 13, 2017
Other users on Twitter are either amused at the outrage or annoyed that the sausage roll scandal has garnered so much attention.
🎼Once upon the high street, Uxbridge,
Stood a lowly branch of Greggs,
Where a mother laid her sausage
In puff pastry for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Sausage Roll, her little Child.— iucounu (@iucounu) November 15, 2017
20 years ago if we saw the greggs Xmas advert with a sausage roll instead of baby jesus we'd have all laughed and still eaten sausage rolls and still gone to see a proper nativity play at a local school, now some arses want us all to boycott greggs ffs....#worldsgonemad
— Adam Jeffery (@howcaniapply) November 15, 2017
I'm a Christian. I love Jesus. I'm not offended by a sausage roll. I save my offence for injustice, hate, exclusion, greed. #greggs
— Elaine Lindridge (@elainelindridge) November 15, 2017
In a statement, Greggs said: "We're really sorry to have caused any offence, this was never our intention."
The Advent calendar goes on sale on November 20 in selected Greggs outlets on and costs £24 (about $32 U.S.).
This sausage roll scandal will certainly blow over fairly quickly, unlike some of the 10 most controversial foods on earth that continue to cause outrage and delight in equal measure.