A Texas-based mattress retailer has apologized for a YouTube video for a sale tied to 9/11 that depicted employees crashing into twin towers of mattresses.
In the video, San Antonio store manager Cherise Bonanno is shown standing in front of two piles of mattresses, saying that in honour of the anniversary of the 9/11terror attacks, any mattress in the store will be sold for the price of a twin size.
“There’s no better way to remember 9/11 than with a twin tower sale,” Bonanno says in the video.
(View the video in the player above this article)
Two employees behind Bonanno begin to scream and hurl themselves into the piles of mattresses, causing them to tumble down.
“We’ll never forget!” she exclaims at the end.
The ad was put up on the company’s social media accounts on Thursday and appears to have been taken down the same day.
Company owner Mike Bonanno said the video was made without his knowledge or the company’s head office.
“The video is tasteless and an affront to the men and women who lost their lives on 9/11,” company owner Mike Bonanno wrote in a letter posted on the company’s Facebook page.
“All I can say is I am deeply sorry and on behalf of the entire Miracle Mattress family, I accept full responsibility for this thoughtless and crude advertisement and will immediately hold my employees accountable for this serious lapse of decency.”
Cherise Bonanno is reportedly the owner’s daughter.
He said the company will determine a way to “express our regret and support for the 9/11 victims and their families.”
He later told a local TV station that the store had received several death threats and closed early on Thursday.
