Dive Brief:

• A Mad Libs-style Canadian Vitamin Water promotion pairing random English and French words inside bottle caps ended with Coca-Cola apologizing to an Edmonton family after they found the phrase "YOU RETARD."
• The incident was especially personal for Blake Loates's family, as her sister has cerebral palsy and autism, and a photo of the bottle cap posted to Facebook has since gone viral.
• Loates' father, understandably irate, wrote a damning letter to the beverage giant, calling himself "an ex-Coke drinker" and stating, "We ARE over-sensitive but you would be too if you had Fiona for a daughter!"

Dive Insight:

While the word "retard" may have an entirely different meaning in French, but its English form is deeply offensive, particularly to families of those who are cognitively delayed. Though Coca-Cola Refreshment Canada may not have meant to offend with the promotion, they probably should have had the foresight to remove select words from inclusion in the "random pairings."