CNN Criticized For Airing Applebee’s Ad During Russia-Ukraine Invasion Coverage

During coverage Thursday of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, CNN awkwardly ran a sponsored advertisement for restaurant chain Applebee's. The poorly inserted split-screen caught the attention of many Twitter users.

In arguably the boldest act of military aggression in decades, Russia attacked Ukraine with missile strikes on Thursday morning, drawing broad condemnation from world leaders. As part of its coverage of the airstrikes, CNN went on air to show air raid sirens going off inside Ukraine.

CNN's coverage included a split-screen that showed images of Kyiv with a caption that read “air raid sirens ring out in Ukraine’s capital.” In the background, the air raid siren could be heard as CNN panned across the city skyline.

Moments later, CNN cut to a split-screen that featured an upbeat Applebee’s commercial advertising the chain’s food menu while running the “Russia invades Ukraine” captions alongside the ad.

Users on Twitter were quick to point out the ill-timed advertisement. One Twitter user reacted with a tongue-in-cheek post that read: “Lets take some ad space on CNN. What could go wrong?”

Another user noted that the ad placement was “brutal timing.”

Other users suggested that the invasion was “brought to you by Applebees.”

CNN was not the only news outlet to run an advertisement in the same ill-fated spot. MSNBC happened to be caught doing a similar ad feature.

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