Portugal
Apology over Sundae Bloody Sundae dessert
McDonald’s has issued an apology over a Halloween marketing campaign for its icecream desserts using the words “Sundae Bloody Sundae”.
On the day known as Bloody Sunday, January 30, 1972, British soldiers shot dead 13 people on the streets of Londonderry in Northern Ireland.
The wording of the campaign appears to have been inspired by the song by Irish rock band U2 Sunday Bloody Sunday, which is about the shootings.
The appearance of the phrase on posters for a two-for-one offer on strawberry sundaes sparked a storm of outrage on social media.
A tweet by Twitter user MyLimes Na gCopaleen with a photograph of the “Sundae Bloody Sundae” poster and the words “Portugal is cancelled” went viral after being posted this week.
McDonald’s Portugal was quick to apologise and cancel the marketing campaign.
“The campaign was meant to celebrate Halloween and the brand never intended to make any connection to historical events or to insult anyone in any way,” McDonald’s Portugal said.
“We sincerely regret any offence this activation may have caused,” McDonald’s Portugal said, adding that the posters had “already been removed from the restaurants”.
The Halloween howler is not the first time a company has had to apologise for trampling on historical sensitivities in Ireland.
Ben & Jerry apologised to consumers in 2006 after releasing Black and Tan icecream, a reference to the mixing of stout and pale ale that failed to take into account the Black and Tans irregular British troops, who gained a reputation for brutality during the Irish War of Independence.