Imagine the scene.
You’re watching the news coverage of the terrible scenes in Ukraine.
Suddenly the news channel cuts to an advert break and, while the invasion footage continues to be shown on the bottom of the screen, viewers see a light-hearted and jarring commercial from your brand.
This happened to one company last week. And it caused a social media storm and crisis media management situation.
Applebee’s, an American fast-food restaurant chain, saw its advert featuring a close-up of chicken wings, a glass of beer, and a cowboy dancing in a pair of jeans “that just fit right” - according to the country and western song playing in the background – show as CNN broadcast live scenes from Ukraine.
This brutal piece of timing infuriated viewers and triggered a significant backlash.
The brand trended on Twitter, and the footage went viral. One clip of the footage I’ve seen on Twitter has had more than 10m views alone.
— Jets_Guy (@JetsGuy6) February 24, 2022
WW3 sponsored by Applebees.
— NUFF (@nuffsaidny) February 24, 2022
We’re living in an episode of South Park.
pic.twitter.com/Ex5MTM2krr
This missile attack is brought to you by Applebees!!
— ForAmerica (@ForAmerica) February 24, 2022
THIS is CNN... pic.twitter.com/JIUIhrQBHh
Additionally, late-night comedy host John Oliver described the advert as “just so aggressively American”, while it also featured on The Last Leg show on this side of the Atlantic.
And if that was not painful enough, the brand saw almost the identical thing happen on MSNBC.
And @MSNBC just followed @CNN's lead... pic.twitter.com/rJBDmBwOBj
— Kyle Drennen (@kjdrennen) February 24, 2022
So, what has Applebee’s said about the situation?
Well, it issued a short statement saying it had pressed the pause button on its advertising with CNN.
It said: “We are deeply concerned about the situation in Ukraine. When we were made aware that our ad was placed in this manner, we immediately reached out to CNN to pause our advertising on their network.
“It never should have aired, and we are disappointed in the actions of the network.”
CNN has also since said that these “squeezeback adverts” have been removed from the coverage.
So, what crisis media management lessons can we learn from this?
Well, firstly, it is another reminder that, as we say during our crisis communication training courses, you never know how and when a reputational crisis might strike.
A silly advert featuring a dancing cowboy and a chicken wings promotion was unlikely to have featured on the brand’s risk register.
But companies have to prepare for the unexpected. This is something we cover in a series of four crisis masterclasses delivered by Sean Ryan as part of The Media Team Academy - you can find out more about the Academy here.
Applebee’s crisis response is also intriguing. Yes, it acknowledged what happened and showed it was taking action by pausing its advertising.
But the blame game tends not to be a good look when you are in the media spotlight. Viewers don’t care whether the fault lies with CNN – they just know they’ve seen an advert with some inappropriate timing.
Rather than hanging CNN out to dry, a better approach may have been to explain how adverts are scheduled so people can understand what went wrong. Or, it could have said that while the placement of this advert was a mistake, it was proud that its advertising plays a role in helping journalists report what is happening in the world.
The Media Team Academy includes four live crisis communication masterclasses. As part of the year-long learning and development programme, members will look at preparing for a crisis, assessing the extent of reputational damage, managing severe crisis events and rebuilding trust. Join the second intake of The Media Team Academy now.
While we’re are on the statement, we should also address the use of the phrase ‘deeply concerned’. We’ve mentioned this before in our crisis media management and media training blogs.
It is a phrase that has been horribly overused. And, as such, has lost any real meaning or impact.
The Urban Dictionary defines ‘deeply concerned’ as ‘an expression used in PR, especially political, when the person or organisation is expected to care about a situation and comment on it’. It adds: “It has become a generic response to any negative situation the person/organisation is asked about but cannot or would not actually be concerned at all about.”
But perhaps the biggest lesson is that brands are having to consider, more carefully than ever, where and when they advertise their products.
Cast you mind, back to last summer, and brands like Kopparberg, Grolsch, Nivea, the Open University, Ikea and Ovo Energy moved to distance themselves from GB News after receiving a backlash for their commercials showing on the channel as it launched.
What is happening in Ukraine brings another factor into this consideration.
As well as the Applebee’s backlash, Compare the Market has said it is reviewing its advertising that features the Russian meerkat Aleksandr Orlov and the commercials are now not shown during news bulletins.
And there are calls for supermarkets to change chicken kiev to chicken kyivs to show support for Ukrainians by using their preferred spelling of the capital.
If advertising isn’t on your risk radar, it may be time to review your plans.
Media First are media and communications training specialists with over 30 years of experience. We have a team of trainers, each with decades of experience working as journalists, presenters, communications coaches and media trainers.
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