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Greggs has been catching heat this week for a series of Christmas window displays dubbed ‘weird and disturbing’ by Brits.
Marketing the return of the Festive Bake, adverts placed on the bakery chain’s windows show cartoon turkeys begging to be let inside , alongside the caption: ‘All taste, no turkey.’
In some, the birds hold signs saying ‘we’ll work weekends’ and ‘let us in!’ as if desperate to be included on the menu, while other posters read ‘turkey dodgers welcome’ and ‘chicken all the way’.
The campaign appears to be a jokey take on the fact that, despite being a take on the classic Christmas dinner, Greggs’ Festive Bake contains chicken instead of the traditional turkey.
However, some customers argued the ads suggest a meat-free treat is on the menu instead.
‘I genuinely thought the festive bake was vegetarian/vegan from the adverts, pretty misleading in my opinion,’ wrote one on Instagram.
‘Ew that’s so dystopian, I hate it,’ added another. ‘This bake isn’t even vegan.’
A third complained: ‘And they aren’t doing their vegan bake this year. The use of “no turkey” to refer to it being chicken is a joke.’
Greggs first introduced a Vegan Festive Bake back in November 2021, combining puff pastry and a filling of savoury Quorn pieces, sage and onion stuffing balls, and vegan bacon crumb.
It’s not made it on the bakery’s 2026 Christmas menu, though. Instead, this year’s only Festive Bake is the carnivore option featuring cooked chicken, smoked ham hock, and bacon with soft cheese, crammed into puff pastry, along with pork, sage and onion stuffing, and a creamy sage and cranberry sauce.
Many customers shared upset at the lack of vegan options on the retailer’s menu this year, claiming their ‘Christmas is ruined’ and calling it a ‘massive mistake’.
Others, however, found the concept itself — of birds begging to be eaten — ‘disturbing’, with one writing: ‘As if animals are willing.’
‘Turkeys and chickens suffer a horrible fate, and cartoons making light of it is grotesque,’ commented another.
Some called the campaign ‘messed up,’ while one went as far as to announce: ‘Greggs is officially dead to me.’
In 2022 alone, around 10,000,000 turkeys were slaughtered in the UK, many of which were killed for Christmas, according to the RSPCA. When it comes to chicken, we eat nearly a billion each year.
Commenting on the controversy, Vegan Society spokesperson, Damian Watson, tells Metro: ‘It’s usually vegans who are accused of being humourless but Greggs aren’t going to win any comedy awards with this marketing campaign.
‘Killing animals is no laughing matter, whatever the contents of their bakes, and plastering cartoon turkeys on windows saying “Let Us In” is pretty tone deaf, when two million people in Great Britain are vegan or plant-based.
‘Greggs’ “No Turkey” bakes contain chicken and pig meat and the advertising around this product may well mislead customers who don’t want to eat meat at all.
‘Those customers can, of course, buy a vegan sausage roll or bake, from Greggs or indeed many other retailers.’
The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) confirmed it had received a ‘number of complaints’ about the Greggs campaign on the grounds it gives the ‘misleading impression that the product doesn’t contain meat’.
However, there is currently no formal investigation into the matter.
Greggs has been contacted for comment.
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