UK retailers accused of 'airbrushing' Christianity out of Christmas cards
London, Dec. 21 (ANI)
High Street retailers in the UK have been accused of 'airbrushing Christianity out of Christmas' after market researchers found just over one percent of cards feature the birth of Jesus.
Out of almost 6,000 types of Christmas card on sale in UK supermarkets, card shops and convenience stores sampled by Nielsen brand auditors, only 34 featured nativity scenes.
Even when cards with other vaguely religious images, such as choirs or church pews, on the front were included, the total amounted to only two percent overall, The Telegraph reports.
According to the paper, some shops had no Christian-themed cards at all on sale while others had only a handful, with the rest dominated by images of Father Christmas, snowmen or Christmas trees.
A team of mystery shoppers from Nielsen, who visited the card aisles in branches of supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and Morrison, as well as smaller card shops, noted the results for a study commissioned by The Bible Society, the paper said.
The found that overall from the 5,706 designs sampled, only 34 had nativity scenes on the front, while there were just 66 designs which could be classed as religious, including in boxed sets, the paper added.
The report concluded that cards depicting the Christmas story appeared to be disappearing from the High Street.