The advertisement featured a hand-written list of world leaders, including Tony Blair and George W Bush, with their names crossed out. The name of the recipient also featured, but not crossed out, next to the catchline: "Don't wait for opportunity to knock. Have it delivered."
A spokesman for The Economist said, "The mailshot was extremely well positioned, but the timing was unfortunate because of peoples' sensitivity. There is a lot of overreaction at the moment and we have to be very sensitive about that."