A controversial pizza chain in New Zealand has had to apologise over a macabre Halloween advertisement which featured skeletal animations of the Queen Mother, Sir Edmund Hillary and Heath Ledger dancing on gravestones.

Hell Pizza apologised to the family of Sir Edmund for the clip in which caricatures of the revered mountaineer, the Queen Mother and Mr Ledger, the Australian actor, emerged from graves and danced to Michael Jackson’s hit zombie song Thriller.

However they have refused to apologise to the Royal family or relatives of Mr Ledger, because, according to a spokeswoman for the chain: “unless they are in touch with us I am not convinced they want to hear from us. They probably won’t even know who we are.”

The advertisement was posted on the Wellington-based fast food chain’s website and sent in an email to the company’s customers as part of a Halloween promotion late last week.

But the company withdrew the ad from its website on Monday after complaints from the family of Sir Edmund, who died just 10 months ago. Mr Ledger died in January of an accidental overdose, while the Queen Mother died in March, 2002.

Sir Edmund’s son Peter said he thought the promotion was in “extremely poor taste” as his father’s death was still “pretty raw”.

"I think it's a bit disturbing...a little grotesque," Mr Hillary told the Dominion Post.

"I don't think it's funny and I'm not very impressed. It is early days and it's still pretty raw."

Rachael Allison, Hell Pizza’s head of marketing, told NZPA that the campaign was only meant for the company’s “loyal customers” and was meant to bring some much loved people back from the dead as a way of honouring them.

“This was always intended to be a humorous communication around Halloween,” she said, adding that Hell’s Pizza was known for its controversial advertising campaigns.

“Interpretation of this is always up to the individuals and we are always mindful of that and always keep an eye on our tone of voice and try to keep on top of that,” she said.

Hell Pizza is one of the most successful fast food chains in New Zealand. It also has one shop in Fulham, southwest London, and has four shops in Australia.

The company regularly courts controversy with its advertising stunts.

Hell Pizza has previously attracted complaints from the Jewish community about a billboard featuring Adolf Hitler saluting with a piece of pizza in his hand.

In 2006 the Catholic Church called for a boycott of the chain when it distributed condoms to advertise its ‘Lush’ pizza. And in July this year it paid $5000 for a Wellington man’s soul after he advertised it on an internet auction site.

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