For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Min­is­ter Sean Sobers has is­sued a for­mal apol­o­gy fol­low­ing a breach of min­is­te­r­i­al pro­to­col in­volv­ing a so­cial me­dia ad­ver­tise­ment for a promi­nent lo­cal re­tail­er, Pen­ny­wise.

The 26-sec­ond video, filmed at the Pen­ny­wise out­let in La Ro­maine, fea­tured the high-rank­ing diplo­mat en­dors­ing a pri­vate busi­ness while shop­ping with his fam­i­ly.

“Hel­lo, Trinidad and To­ba­go. I am Sean Sobers, the Min­is­ter of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs. I’m here with my fam­i­ly at Pen­ny­wise in La Ro­maine shop­ping for all our house­hold items that we utilise on a dai­ly ba­sis. It is your one-stop shop to come and get all of the things that you think you need. Prices are rea­son­able, the se­lec­tion is great, and staff is fan­tas­tic.”