President’s Choice apologizes for ‘insensitive’ hurricane Sandy tweet

TORONTO – President’s Choice has apologized for an “insensitive” tweet about hurricane Sandy that has left many Canadians with a bad taste.

The private label of Loblaw (TSX:L), posted Tuesday: “What’s scarier? Hurricane #Sandy or a beverage with marshmallow eyeballs?”

It linked to a recipe for “marshmallow bloodshot eyeballs,” which suggests cutting marshmallows in half and putting a grape or blueberry in the middle to make it look like an eyeball.

The account was flooded with replies criticizing the tweet as “awful” and “tasteless” for making light of a storm that killed more than 100 people, including a woman in Toronto.

Millions of people remain without power and transit in the U.S. and in Canada the storm at its height left more than 200,000 customers in the dark.

President’s Choice tweeted again about an hour later to say it was sorry.

“We sincerely apologize for the insensitive tweet,” the company wrote. “We understand the seriousness of the storm and didn’t intend to make light of it.”