Warburtons has changed the hashtag used on a celebrity-backed competition after realising it is shared by a subculture known as ‘furries’.

Britain’s biggest bread brand used the #crumpetcreations hashtag as part of a competition in which customers upload photos of Christmassy crumpets to Instagram for the chance to win VIP tickets to the Christmasaurus Live Show – the stage adaptation of a book by McFly’s Tom Fletcher.

However, Crumpet Creations is also the name of a company in Phoenix, Arizona, that makes costumes for people involved in ‘furry’ fandom, and which tags its work on Instagram using the same hashtag.

‘Furries’ is a subculture in which people dress up in elaborate costumes as animal characters – including dogs, cats, wolves and even goats – with human personalities. They can be seen at comic book conventions, as well as specialised ‘furry’ events.

As a result, Instagram users viewing #crumpetcreations can see a mixture of crumpets topped with salmon, poached eggs and fruit, alongside a selection of people dressed up as ‘furries’.

A Warburtons spokesperson told British Baker the hashtag has now been changed to #warburtonschristmascrumpets and that the competition is still on.

 “The world of social media is a wonderful and varied place, but this shows just how easy it is to get it wrong! We will be doing a bit more research next time,” said the bakery.

Warburtons previously partnered with Tom Fletcher for the launch of The Christmasaurus last year, creating a giant dinosaur out of 2,500 crumpets which was on display at the Natural History Museum.