Dunkin' Donuts, one of Liverpool Football Club's official sponsors, has been forced to apologise after tweeting an alternative version of the club's crest in which the Hillsborough's eternal flames with milkshakes. 

Liverpool FCLiverpool manager Brendan Rodgers [L] on the training ground

The company also replaced with the famous Shankly Gates with a picture of doughnuts and a coffee, substituting the "you'll never walk alone" legend with the slogan, "America runs on Dunkin".

"Love the LFC crest? Tweet us what you'd want on your personal crest and we might surprise you with your own!" read a tweet from the company. 

In a statement reported by the Liverpool Echo, Dunkin Donuts said: "We apologise for any insensitivity regarding our tweet supporting an LFC-themed promotion featuring the LFC crest.

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"As a proud partner of LFC, we did not intend any offence, particularly to the club's supporters. We have removed the tweet and halted the campaign immediately."

The eternal flames were added the Liverpool's crest in 1993 as a tribute to the 96 people who were killed in the Hillsborough disaster four years previous. 

The football club signed a multi-million pound deal with Dunkin Donuts in January 2014.

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Liverpool's unofficial magazine Kop had initially picked up on the gaffe, tweeting, "Do you wanna tell @DunkinDonuts how bad replacing the eternal flame with coffee is or should we?"

The magazine later tweeted, "Thanks to all who contacted @DunkinDonuts re their insensitive #LFC promotion. Apology made, should never have happened though."

One Twitter user added: "I can think of a number of reasons why people may want to boycott Dunkin' Donuts.The most logical one relates to their entire product range."