Was anyone *really* offended by Greggs Nativity Sausage? Does anyone know anyone who was? Who is most entitled to be offended by it – Christians, Jews or vegetarians? And are you now a) more or b) less aware that the apostrophe-free apostate Greggs sells sausage rolls?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/41997936/greggs-sorry-for-swapping-jesus-for-sausage-roll-in-nativity-scene
If it was Pret a Manger it’d make more sense.
Dear Chiz
I’m prepared to be offended (by anything) if it will enable a robust debate in the comments. Let me know.
Your pal
Saucy
My first thought was viral marketing*, but then it struck me that it would be reasonable for Christians to take genuine umbrage so I adjusted my view to ‘misplaced attempt at humour’.
* Not strictly true, my first thought regarded what puns I could put in social media. Looking at my friends’ timelines I was too late with most and had to imagine an Easter campaign based around bread to come up with anything original, ‘Dough! He is risen!’
So long as they used self-raising flour, I’m fine with it.
I thought they missed a trick. The could have had Jesus crucified on a cross made of sausage rolls.
I wish I had a life so complete and well ordered that I have the time to worry about a Christmas promotion with a blasphemous sausage roll (says a man writing about it anyway).
Around 27 born again idiots have burned down the local Greggs and prevented the Fire Brigade from putting the fire out. There are now only 473 pie shops left in the village. Life goes on.
This has ruined Winterval for me.
Sausage roles are my guiltiest pleasure and thus one of the greatest British contributions to global cuisine IMO. I don’t mind one of them taking the place of JC, even with a bite out of it.
Sausage roles.
I auditioned but didn’t measure up.
Sausage roles.
The Count of Monte Chorizo, directed by Sir Peter Walls.
Northbanger Abbey with Sossie Spacek.
Sorry! Too many vodkas maybe.
I always thought Jesus looked pasty-faced.
Boom tish.
There are some brilliant responses on The Poke: https://www.thepoke.co.uk/2017/11/16/greggs-sausage-roll-calendar-advent-favourite-13-responses-online/
I especially enjoyed the pork nativity.
I guess that a good few years ago this could never have been tolerated. Then it would have been pretty risqué. And now it’s a case of “whoops, sorry Christians”. Give it a little more time and it will be standard practice.
I think the protests etc by religious folk in this sort of thing are, in effect, the impotent howls of rage that their belief systems are on an unstoppable decline. Fewer and fewer people really care any more. Whether you think that’s a good thing or not is maybe better left to another, more dangerously ill-conducted, thread.
The father, son and roll(y) ghost
My daughter has just started working at Greggs. She tells me the biggest seller is their sausage roll and they are mostly bought by old duffers.
Accordingly I doubt anyone on here has been offended by the errant sausage.
The sausage roll is my Greggs-dummy of choice. Fine mix of grease, flaky pastry and meat mechanically removed or steamed off the carcass. Not sure about their pulled-pork sausage roll, though.
Is it not the “sausage errant”?
“Accordingly I doubt anyone on here has been offended by the errant sausage.”
But, change the article to indefinite and it is a whole different story.
How do you know? From personal experience or what?
See I think Greggs knew exactly the response this would get. It’s not credible that there wasn’t someone who said, ooh, hang on, we’re going to get crucified for this. They also knew it had huge comic viral potential once social media got a hold of it. All they needed was for someone to take the bait.
“crucified” – nice touch!
Chiz, I think you might be crediting marketing folk with more intelligence than they actually possess. Remember the Dove ‘so good it can turn black people white’ campaign?
I mean, you would have thought someone might have questioned it, wouldn’t you? Unless, as you say, it was a cunning ruse to gain sales.
My guess is they didn’t have any Christian church goers in the focus group.
Lord Jesus spelled backward is “susejd rol”.
This is my favourite fact of the week!
Have more ‘ups’ than you can shake a very big stick at.
I can’t take credit, I saw it on the internets.
I put it there.
Oh yes? And why on earth were you googling “sausage”? Remember you are under oath!
God is a croissant by which measure our pain (au chocolat).
I couldn’t eat a whole Baby Jesus anyway, so I’m ok with it.
Dean Swift says: it’s not just for Christmas!
Surely baby Jesus would only have a chipolata.
It’s an interesting one. I’m not remotely offended, as I’m not religious, but it raises a good question about the nature of offence. I know several practising Catholics, and they are all sweet, little old ladies. In the same way that not every Muslim is a terrorist, not every Catholic or Christian thinks gay people are evil, or that contraception is a sin.
When we think of Christian, overtly ‘religious’ people, per se, we tend to conjure up an image of American fire-and-brimstone preachers condemning everyone to hell, or warmongering presidents convinced that God is on their side. The reality in Britain is very different. US-based satire of religious groups attacks power/intolerance; here, you’re attacking a lame and dying dog. Churches are closing all over the place (my local one has just been demolished), and attendance dwindles every year.
I’m pretty sure that almost no-one is offended by the advert, but that’s what Christians are in this country: practically no-one. When the church had power, satire and straightforward piss-taking punched upwards. What does it achieve now? Let the dog die quietly.
The “hot” dog?
If Muslims knew that this was happening they might well be offended at one of their prophets being replaced by a pig product.