McDonalds in Portugal has apologised over a Halloween ice cream campaign which featured the slogan “Sundae Bloody Sundae”.
The fast food chain says it was not intended “an insensitive reference” to the Bloody Sunday massacre in which 14 unarmed civilians were killed in Derry in 1972.
The chain celebrated the Halloween season with a two-for-one offer on the strawberry dessert and an apparent nod to the U2 song ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’.
The Portugal wing of the monolith chipper chain told the Guardian that it was intended as a celebration of Halloween and not to any historical event.
Thirteen people were killed and 15 people were wounded after members of the Army’s Parachute Regiment opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in the Bogside on Sunday January 30, 1972.
The advertising campaign has now been pulled. McDonalds also says it regrets any offence it may have caused.
McDonalds inadvertent reminder of the painful chapters in Irish and British history follows the gaffe in 2006 by the US firm Ben & Jerry who had to apologise to Irish consumers after it launched ‘Black and Tan’ ice-cream.
The firm said the flavour had been inspired by the classic mixture of stout and pale ale, before customers reminder them of the association it had in Irish history.
The Black and Tans were an irregular force of British ex-servicemen recruited and deployed during the Irish war of independence, where they were despised for their brutality.
