On top of the prime-time host, anchors and opinion artists can say some stupid stuff -- full of lies and misrepresentation. When that happens, top news marketers will typically take a break from those specific shows or TV networks.

This didn't happen to Applebee's. Instead there was a big mistake that TV network CNN admitted and regretted. An Applebee's ad placement of their TV commercial message was placed side by side next to a smaller video of sirens blasting and headline of CNN's top news story: Russia Invades Ukraine.

In the recent past, we know TV news networks typically do handle this well, when it comes to regular TV commercials, where, say video, hard-core news events -- plane crashes, school shootings, murder trials -- bump too close to TV advertising messages. For CNN, it was a mistake, pure and simple.

But let's take this further -- much further in terms of all content: opinionated, factual, or anything in between. Some advertisers would rather not be anywhere near certain types of content so their messaging isn't appropriate -- in a regular TV commercial or a side-by-side content/advertising video thing.

Let's talk about health news, for example. Say a TV news host -- not exactly a journalist, but a wild opinionist from one of the crazy news channels -- talks up that the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as longtime pharmaceutical companies supporting that science, is a bunch of hooey.

What if right after that content from the aforementioned TV host comes a pharma product touting help for Shingles, eczema, heartburn, or rheumatoid arthritis? Would a viewer make a less-than-positive association of a drug/vaccine manufacturer alongside that company's other medications?

Sure -- Applebee's has no interest in being associated with war, bombing and missile attacks half a world away. The trouble is, this is news coverage. It's not a perfect world. Bad things happen. A lot.

So what's the alternative? Perhaps a longer pause between a broader array of news content and advertising business?

If context and content are everything, better separation for some might be key.

In an increasingly digital age, what better foolproof, near real-time tools can be used for those more sensitive marketers who have yet to fully commit to live TV news programming.

What's the solution when it comes to business in association with hardcore news or opinion content?