The news outlet reports that the 11 year-old girl was shocked to read 'YOU RETARD' on the inside of the lid, prompting her father to complain to the company, leading red-faced Coke executives to blame technical issues for the offensicve blunder.
Coke told ABC News that the words were the result of a competition pairing one random English word with a second random French word; in this case 'retard' means late or delayed, with English connotations missed during a review process.
Shannon Denny, director of brand communications for Coca-Cola Refreshment Canada told ABC Coke had spoken to the family and offered its sincere apologies.
"This is certainly not an excuse in any way for what has occurred. We wanted them to know that this was in no way intentional and was a mistake on our part during the review process. We also wanted to share that the promotion has since been cancelled and we are no longer producing bottles with those caps," she said.
Although Denny said the company would post an apology on their Facebook page, there was nothing to this effect as of September 20, while a short Twitter apology links to a dead Facebook link:
