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An Applebee’s commercial that aired alongside CNN’s footage of Ukraine under attack has left a bad taste in many viewers’ mouths — including Applebee’s.
As the WarnerMedia-owned T, -1.19% cable news network was covering Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, an unfortunately-timed Applebee’s ad made a jarring transition from air raid sirens blaring over Kyiv one moment, to the sound of the Zac Brown Band’s upbeat “Chicken Fried” single played over footage of beer and fried chicken the next.
What’s more, the split-screen view kept the Ukraine footage in a small box on the left with an all-caps headline reading “RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE,” which was juxtaposed with the Applebee’s commercial on the right featuring a cowboy shaking his denim derrière at the camera.