Sainsbury's removes 'distasteful and shameful' Christmas card from shelves after facing backlash

Sainsbury's has been forced to removed a Christmas card from its shelves after shoppers deemed it 'distasteful' and 'incredibly bleak.'

As 25 December nears, retailers have been stocking up on festive goodies ready for the big day, from roast turkey and Buck's Fizz to stocking fillers and cards.

But, one Christmas card, sold by supermarket giant Sainsbury's, left a bad taste in shoppers mouths after it went viral on social media.

Philip Lymbery shared a picture of the card — which he slammed as 'distasteful' and 'unnecessary' — on X, writing, "Why @Sainsburys thinks this is so funny it’s worthy of a Christmas card is beyond me?"

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The card in question, which wasn't manufactured by Sainsbury's but sold in their stores, features a sweet picture of two snow-covered pigs, with the message: "Don't worry, I hear we're getting some blankets!"

Shoppers were supposedly outraged by the tongue-in-cheek card, with one commenting below Philip's tweet: "This card is completely vile, Sainsbury’s should be ashamed of themselves."

Another person wrote: "Animals freezing to death is the holiday spirit. How awful."

And a third said: "Shocking @sainsburys. It's very offensive to vegetarians, vegans and animal lovers."

Twitter/@philip_ciwf

Former model, businesswoman and animal activist, Heather Mills also commented on the controversial card.

Heather, who owns vegan food company VBites, shared the card on Instagram, writing: "This card from @sainsburys highlights a major historical and endemic societal issue with the way we treat these and other highly intelligent creatures. Having spent time uncovering the nefarious practices of pig farming, sadly I’ve seen it first-hand."

She added: "If people can’t stifle their Christmas cravings, we’ve got plenty of vegan bacon and sausage at @VBitesfoods - that’s why we made them!"

Following the backlash, the supermarket chain has confirmed that they're removing the offensive card from their shelves.

A spokesperson for Sainsbury's told Tyla: "Customer feedback is really important to us."

While the spokesperson reiterated that the card was not manufactured by the retail giant, they said: "We understand this design has been upsetting to some people and so we are removing it from sale."

In other festive news, an Aussie shopping centre has been forced to replace its controversial Christmas display after it received backlash from shoppers.

The outraged shoppers at Santa’s village at Pacific Werribee were unhappy after being confronted with a huge sign above Santa’s chair that read "Merry Everything," aggressively hitting out at shopping centre workers for omitting the word 'Christmas' from their decorations.

Facing pressure from the disgruntled customers, shopping centre bosses changed their multicultural display just days later to read "Merry Christmas" instead.