A McDonald's restaurant has apologised and removed an 'insensitive' decoration

A McDonald's restaurant in North Andover, Massachusetts apologises after displaying 'insensitive' Halloween decorations. Photo / Twitter

Warning: This article is about suicide and may be distressing for some readers.

A McDonald's restaurant in the US has come under fire after customers complained about an "insensitive" Halloween image displayed below a cash register.

Erik Pocock was at the fast-food chain in North Andover, Massachusetts on Tuesday ordering food when he looked down and noticed something was "not right" about the Halloween decorations.

At first he thought the artwork was "cool".

"It looked like a typical Halloween decoration. It said 'Happy Halloween.' It had some spider webs and some spiders and, like, a haunted tree and I was like: 'Oh, that's cute'," he told WCVB.

.@McDonalds is apologizing after these Halloween decorations were put up in their North Andover restaurant. Customers we spoke with tonight are split about whether the image is offensive #WCVB pic.twitter.com/wnRfhmV8zP

— Matt Reed (@MattReedNews) October 24, 2019

"Then, you look closer and that's not cute. That's not right."

Mr Pocock realised the image showed the outline of a person hanging in a scene that looked "more like a lynching".

"Any hatred towards any race or any person is just extremely unacceptable, especially for a large establishment like McDonald's," Mr Pocock told 7 News Boston.

Others were shocked over the placement of the decal, which is in eye level of most children.

"McDonald's represents Ronald McDonald, helping children," one woman said. "Across the street from a high school, it's just wrong."

Mr Pocock told the news station it was "insensitive" and they should have thought twice about putting it up.

The McDonald's restaurant owner and operator Chuck Lietz has since apologised and removed the image, saying they "deeply regret that these decorations were on display".

"As soon as we identified the inappropriate content, we immediately removed the decorations display," he told 7 News Boston in a statement.

"Creating an environment that is welcoming and inclusive to all our guests and employees is critically important to us, and we apologise for any unintended offence they may have had on our community."

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