Online food delivery platform Deliveroo has apologised to customers for a “misjudged” Valentine’s Day campaign that sparked controversy across social media.

The London direct mail campaign saw the firm post out flower discount promotions addressed to ‘My Valentine’ in a faux, handwritten letter-style, prompting bemused customers to post their stories online.

Designed to offer people £15 off bouquets at their local florist, the Deliveroo promotion sparked a backlash from disgruntled customers who were fooled into believing they had a secret admirer.

Taking to social media platform Reddit, one user wrote: “My postie was like ‘oooh that’s exciting’. Hope he never asks where it was from as I am too ashamed to admit my only valentines was a 15% off flowers voucher.”

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Another pointed out the potential complications this could cause for couples, posting: “From the outside it looks like a generic Valentine’s card with a handwritten address and the name is ‘my valentine’. You can only tell it’s an ad when you open it. Someone’s getting stitched up with that one for sure.”

Responding to the negative feedback, a Deliveroo statement read: “We fully appreciate that the copy on the handwritten envelopes for our flower discount promotion was misjudged.

“Whilst the contents of the envelopes were clearly branded and the copy was inclusive to both those treating themselves or others, we apologise for any upset this promotion has caused and are reviewing our internal processes.”