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McDonald's has apologised for a campaign promoting a Halloween-themed dessert in Portugal using the slogan "Sundae Bloody Sundae".

A customer tweeted a picture of the advert featuring a reference to the 1972 Bloody Sunday atrocity in Derry, along with the caption: "Portugal is cancelled".

The fast-food chain has since apologised and removed promotional material from the restaurants after sparking outrage on social media.

A spokeswoman for McDonald's said: "When promoting its Halloween Sundae ice cream, McDonald's Portugal developed a local market activation for a small number of its restaurants in Portugal.

"The campaign was intended as a celebration of Halloween, not as an insensitive reference to any historical event or to upset or insult anyone in any way.

"We sincerely apologise for any offence or distress this may have caused. All promotional material has been removed from restaurants."

Thirteen people were killed on Bloody Sunday, and another man died a few months later from his injuries, when British soldiers opened fire on 28 unarmed civilians taking part in a protest march.

It was the highest number of people killed in a single shooting incident during the Troubles and fuelled hostility towards the British army, worsening the conflict.

The controversial campaign was widely condemned on social media, with one user calling it "appalling".

Another said: "Hate to do this to you McDonalds but Sunday Bloody Sunday is actually about a massacre that happened in Derry in 1972."

Someone else defended the company, tweeting: "Appreciate that it can upset people here, but NI isn't the target market for Portugal's McDonalds".

Others suggested McDonald's was alluding to Irish band U2's song Sunday Bloody Sunday without knowing the real meaning behind it.

One user tweeted: "Wow. Who dropped the ball on this one. @McDonalds someone needs to google Bloody Sunday and what the @U2 song was about."