It was pretty poor editing/proofreading on the part of someone over there. But as you said- at least their correction and apology were CLEAR and easily found. In contrast to pp ** bottom column under ads for obscure things no one buys.
I'm sure the person responsible for the error is in a fetal curl in the corner, being pelted with crumpled copy by his/her fellow employees. He/she will probably have to buy donuts for a month, and will never live it down. That said, I believe it was just an error, not deliberate.