Jesus replaced with a Gregg's sausage roll.

cannot imagine anyone with an iota of maturity, wisdom or creativity who'd do this/stake their reputation for a cheap laugh, especially as it's for a down market bakery firm.

I agree. I can't imagine anyone with an iota of maturity doing this sort of thing either. I conclude therefore that it wasn't anyone with an iota of maturity who did it. That should be clear from several of my comments, e.g. I've called the ad crass and a few other things.

My real argument is that, except for libel, death threats, etc that are already covered by law as criminal, except for those then no poking fun at some things shouldn't be taboo. If it were important progress in changing attitudes would never happen. I don't think getting all het up about stuff one can just ignore is wise. Some twit (some twit of an advertising bod in a company) sticking a sausage roll in a crib where people expect a representation of a certain baby does not victimise anyone. I know some people disagree with that view.

Woke early and found myself wondering why people who are offended by the crass and tasteless Greggs 'joke' need others to know they are offended by it. Then I found myself trying to remember if I'd ever felt offended in a similar way. I couldn't recall anything. Then I thought about an article I read recently about Facebook's Zuckerberg and his like, billionaires whose companies avoid paying decent taxes in the countries where they run their businesses. That offends me though nobody else needs to know that. What would their knowing it achieve? Sausage rolls in inappropriate places somehow don't seem like a big deal in comparison. No-one and no country is deprived of anything it should fairly have because some clever idiot (sic; love the remark someone made up thread about the ad 'designer' earning their fee!) had a weird sense of humour.

I didn't find the 'joke' funny, just weird. I did like the backwards reading of sausage roll though: lor(d) gesaus, where like means I appreciated it rather than being indifferent to it, and where appreciated doesn't mean 'liked', just recognised. (One has to be so careful with words on Gransnet lest one’s meaning is misinterpreted—prolly still will be but I tried).

www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/41997936/greggs-sorry-for-swapping-jesus-for-sausage-roll-in-nativity-scene

Judas sold him too

Oh so they can cause distress to many in the rest of the country because they do fantastic work in the north east of England.

"Meanwhile, the Diocese of Durham had this to say: “We can understand why the Greggs Christmas image is creating a lot of discussion and inevitably causing offence to many, not only Christians.

“Whilst we are rightly concerned about the Christmas story being lost across a broad spectrum of advertising at this time of year, to single out Greggs in this respect would ignore the fantastic and generous work they do in communities across the North East. Whilst we don’t endorse this depiction of Christmas, we do recognise that in the very least it is getting people talking about the real meaning behind Christmas and that has to be a good thing.” "

"Behind the freshly made sandwiches and golden puff pastry sausage rolls we’ve always been committed to doing the right thing. Way back in the sixties we started with our free ‘pie n peas supper’ for older residents in Gateshead. And today we still have that same commitment, our annual Children’s Cancer Run has raised over £5m for Cancer Research. Every day we provide a healthy breakfast for over 6,000 primary school children with our Breakfast Club programme. All this and so much more from the Greggs Foundation.

And here we are today. With over 1,700 Greggs in the UK, we still pay attention to the important things. Like serving food that’s free of the nasty stuff (we don’t use artificial colours, flavours, added trans fats or MSG), keeping our 20,000 staff happy (we’ve been named one of the happiest places to work) and making sure our customers have a great experience (have you tried Greggs Rewards?). This all comes down to wanting for you, our customers, the same as what we’d want for our own families. Simply: good food."
Not bad for a down-market bakery,

You missed out the northern from that insult of the bakery firm, Day6.

It bemuses me,why not use all your pent up "christian" outrage for a cause thats important .... a stupid ad campaign isn't worth it.Surely you should be outraged at all the people who wont have a bed on Christmas day

Pent up outrage? There is nothing pent up about it. How do you know what people feel about the homeless? This isn't a thread about that. Who made you director of feelings?

I have enough anger for many unjust causes. This pathetic and insulting ad is one of them.

Buy hey, who cares? Anything goes......

Giving a topic extra sensitivity is basically making it taboo.

But shouldn't ridiculing or poking fun at some things be taboo?

Is it open season on anything and anyone now?

It's a bit like the keyboard warrior thing. We can hide behind screens and say things we may not say to others face to face. It makes us bold and perhaps unthinking.

The advertisers could bank on the on-line atheists coming out and howling that Jesus in the manger had become a sausage roll. (Even typing that makes me want to squirm.)

The advertisers had their backs covered after they created a controversy. Many of the online comments I have read have been puerile. The ad/photo is the sort of thing my gawky son would have found soooo hilarious when he was 13. I suspect the creators of the deliberately offensive material were immature, conceited, thick skinned, self-congratulatory city boys. I am trying to imagine them on their X boxes.

I cannot imagine anyone with an iota of maturity, wisdom or creativity who'd do this/stake their reputation for a cheap laugh, especially as it's for a down market bakery firm.

Paddyann, you do not know that I have or do not have pent up Christian rage. You do not know if I am or am not outraged for the homeless, you do not know a thing about Christianity obviously, so do not set yourself up as someone who knows me, you know not a damn thing . Go practice what you preach and you being an atheist know not - judge not less you be judged .

annie FACT ,the bible was written and rewritten over centuries ,tweaked to suit the times .I have no problem with any faith or all faiths ,I just think this whole sausage roll thing is ridiculous .It bemuses me,why not use all your pent up "christian" outrage for a cause thats important .... a stupid ad campaign isn't worth it.Surely you should be outraged at all the people who wont have a bed on Christmas day ...just like the holy family ...according to the bible .Use your energy for making government behave like the christians they claim to be.Care for the sick,the poor ,the vulnerable ...isn't THAT christianity?

Christians here have never mocked , belittled or criticised atheists, and faith is not the same as voting for a political party.

To me it just isn't funny. Not for religious reasons (all though I am a believer) I saw the picture in the paper and thought - what s the point of that. A calendar of pictures of food (especially greasy fat and salty food) would not be something I'd want to look at anyway.

Giving a topic extra sensitivity is basically making it taboo. Taboo is censorship by another name.

I respect that people are Christians in the same way that, I presume, they respect that I'm an atheist. That doesn't mean I respect what they believe or that they respect what I believe. I respect people and their right to think/believe what they choose. I don't necessarily respect what they believe and don't see why I should pretend that I do, nor do I expect them to respect what I believe or to pretend that they do.

It's no different, as far as I can see, from respecting a person's right to vote politically in whichever way they choose however much one disagrees with their viewpoint.

Exactly, a stupid stunt dreamed up by some ‘Jeremy’ (not Corbyn I hasten to add.)Simply to be ‘amusing’ and yes, maybe some controversary too.
Like some other posters, I never buy from Greggs anyway but will make extra sure not to in the future.
The Advent Calendars cost £23 according to the news item that I read.....can that be right?

Most people Christian or not know the nativity story. That’s why Greggs used that image not because they wanted to offend.

Why not use Santa then? Reindeer would eat their sausage rolls, surely?

They didn't 'want to offend' because they were too juvenile to appreciate that religion is a sensitive subject, especially to believers? Were they that dense? I don't think so.

They strayed into sensitive territory because they knew damned well how to cause controversy by using religion at Christmas time. It was deliberately planned to offend and get people talking.

Kerr-ching. Big bonuses to atheist businessmen. Nice.

I hope it backfires on them.

I didn’t say this was a Christian country- I said the cultural heritage for hundreds of years was Christian. Most people know the Christian stories, and I suppose most people see them as stories, which is why most people aren’t offended by the Greggs advert.

In your opinion .paddyann , that's all it is. As for Christ being thought of as white, that stopped years ago, pointless bringing it up.

There are Christians in this forum, they deserve respect of their faith ,they cause no harm, dismissing their faith as you have done is cruel. Why not be satisfied with - I am an atheist, that I can respect

You know the story the other day, about Greggs causing offence to certain religious types who were apparently angry that they’d replaced baby Jesus with a sausage roll?

Well, it makes more sense when you realise that Lord Jesus spelt backwards is actually Susejd Rol.

@davidvitty

this is NOT a christian country ,at least not according to census' and polls.Quite frankly I dont know why people are getting their knickers in a twist over this...there are far worse things happening that could do with your outrage .The bible ,nativity and all ...is fiction ...written and rewritten over centuries .Believe by all means but be realistic about it too.The Jesus of popular culture is a blond white man ...do you all believe thats true too ? Hardly likely given his place of birth and his parents !

Despite what the papers say, the cultural heritage of this country is Christian and has been for about 1500 years. Muslims and Hindus are a small and relatively recent minority and most people in this country are not familiar with the tenets of those faiths. It is unsurprising that Christian and biblical imagery is much more common and explains why popular culture might use aspects of Christian traditions in various ways. No they wouldn’t use images of Hindu or other gods as the vast majority of people in this country wouldn’t have a scooby doo what it was about. Most people Christian or not know the nativity story. That’s why Greggs used that image not because they wanted to offend.

Day 6, I agree, the derogatory Charlie Hebdo cartoons opened a Pandora's Box as far as I'm concerned to a scenario that didn't justify their publication.

"Then again how authentic is Mohammed riding to heaven on a white charger or a deity that has the head of an elephant to give two other examples of non Christian beliefs."

Yes, all faiths can be questioned, but ridiculed? Why would you want to do that? Faith is faith. We can choose to adopt one or not. Should we be ridiculed for our choices in anything?

And would Greggs also see those two symbols as an advertising opportunity? Would that firm stick sausage rolls in the elephant Hindu God Ganesh's trunk for advertising purposes when his birthday is celebrated all over India?

Would they remove Mohammed and place a sausage roll on his white, winged steed? (Al-Burāq is a steed in Islamic mythology I have just discovered.) Replace the creature taking Mohammed to Mecca with a flying sausage roll? How offensive would that be? Why offend people deliberately?

If those advertisers feel they can't go there, why defile a precious Christian story?

In my opinion Trisher is being deliberately offensive, I am offended .

If no belief in Christ why the need to applaud mockery of him . There are committed Christians who post on this forum why the need to hurt them with mockery