Whoever was running the Twitter account of the Microsoft Xbox game console @tweetbox360 sent out a tweet on Monday.  The tweet encouraged anyone who saw the tweet to go out and purchase the recently deceased Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black at the Zune store.

The tweet was perceived as being as a ploy to capitalize on the death of the Grammy award winning British singer, similar to what many marketers did in June of 2009 when Michael Jackson died.

Microsoft told the press “Apologies to everyone if our earlier Amy Winehouse ‘download’ tweet seemed purely commercially motivated. Far from the case, we assure you,” the company said after the backlash, adding “With Amy W’s passing, the world has lost a huge talent. Our thoughts are with Amy’s family and friends at this very sad time.”

Amy Winehouse’s death this weekend has caused a boom in her music sales.  Her 2006 album “Back To Black” climbed to the top of the US and UK iTunes charts, where it stayed through Monday.