---
title: "McDonald's Tries to Be Epically Punny and It Epically Backfires"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/814c01d3-1d4b-4158-8964-a61b77d8d5ce
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/mcdonalds-tries-to-be-epically-punny-and-it-epically-backfires-2711474
category: "Burger"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Burger"
published: 2019-10-31T22:17:01.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T01:42:03.300Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/4b2d330ace1e9742d08cee8689468d822773.jpg
---

# McDonald's Tries to Be Epically Punny and It Epically Backfires

**TL;DR:** McDonald's launched a 'Sundae Bloody Sundae' promotion in Portugal, which was cancelled due to social media backlash over its insensitive reference to the Bloody Sunday massacre. The brand apologized for any offense or distress caused by the promotion.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2019-10-31. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/mcdonalds-tries-to-be-epically-punny-and-it-epically-backfires-2711474).*

## Story

In an attempt to be punny (and spooky?), McDonald’s launched a Halloween promotion for a “Sundae Bloody Sundae” ice cream that was available in Portugal , that was cancelled faster than the sundae could melt.

According to CNBC , the two-for-one Sundae Bloody Sundae promotion, which referenced the Bloody Sunday massacre during the height of The Troubles in Northern Ireland,was seen as insensitive to the masses, causing tons of social media backlash for the brand. Bloody Sunday took place January 30, 1972 when “when 13 people were killed (a 14th died some months later as a result of his injuries) after British soldiers opened fire on demonstrators at a civil rights march in Derry/Londonderry,” the article said. Save the spelling of “Sunday” and “Sundae”, The McDonald’s promotion shares a name with the song by U2 .

Many consumers took to social media to express their thoughts on the promotion. One twitter user said “On the scale of epic #prfail, this has to be up there with @KylieJenner’s Pepsi ad ”—which, while we’re talking about fails, was actually the work of older sister, Kendall.

McDonald’s was quick to apologize, releasing a statement that said “the Portugal ads were not intended to be an ‘insensitive reference to any historical event’ and the brand ‘sincerely apologize[s] for any offence or distress this may have caused.’”

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- McDonald's (company)
- Pepsi (company)
- halloween promotion (topic)
- Portugal (location)
- social media backlash (topic)
- brand apology (topic)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/mcdonalds-tries-to-be-epically-punny-and-it-epically-backfires-2711474). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/814c01d3-1d4b-4158-8964-a61b77d8d5ce).