Sausage-Roll Jesus Stirs Up An Early Christmas Controversy

Ed Mazza
Updated

This sausage roll is bringing joy to the world ― and a few complaints, too.

Greggs, a British bakery chain with more than 1,800 locations, released an Advent calendar with coupons and cheeky holiday images. One shows the Three Wise Men gathered around a manger with a meaty treat in place of the baby Jesus.

That led to some grumbles, and even calls for a boycott.

The U.K. Evangelical Alliance told BBC Money that it wasn’t “too outraged” by the image, but was concerned about the holiday being used for marketing.

“Every year some company creates a Christmas controversy for commercial gain. It seems to get earlier each year,” spokesman Daniel Webster told the network. “That’s the scandal that should be talked about this Christmas, not processed outrage to sell processed food.”

Greggs apologized.

“We’re really sorry to have caused any offense, this was never our intention,” the company said, according to Sky News.

However, not everyone was offended. Many on social media ― even some self-described Christians ― saw a little holiday humor in the image of a sausage roll being adulated:

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.