Personally, there really isn’t an apology suitable for this type of infraction, IMHO. The company is pandering, for the $$. That’s it. It’s that simple. It’s hard to believe that at a round table full of execs, not one person had the courage to make the case that this probably wouldn’t be well received in the States. Or, maybe they did and just didn’t care.
I was not the first to send them a note. Many freepers and others were all over this before me. I just wanted to let others know that I got a response.
An apology seals their confession of how wrong this pandering truly was, and repudiates (at least rhetorically) whatever goodwill they might have gained in the market where the ad ran.