KitchenAid apologizes over tweet about Obama’s grandmother

An inelegant tweet about President Obama’s deceased grandmother during last night’s debate has KitchenAid – which is usually better known for its mixers and blenders – backpedaling hard.

The message, which was posted to the home appliance company’s Twitter profile as Obama sparred with Republican rival Mitt Romney, has since been deleted.

But according to the legions of retweets, the note referred to Obama’s maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who passed away in November 2008.

Since then, the tweet has sparked debate among customers. Cynthia Soledad, the senior director of KitchenAid’s brand and marketing division, took to the social media site to apologize. See the full, ugly progression below.

But first, a reminder that KitchenAid is far from alone in the world of crass corporate tweets.

Microsoft apologized last year after sending out a tweet asking Amy Winehouse fans to remember the deceased singer by downloading her tunes from its online Zune store. And in July, after a gunman rampaged through a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., online retailer Celeb Boutique had to backtrack after suggesting in a tweet that its Aurora dress was causing the term to trend on Twitter.