IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE FUNNY?

I recently saw an ad... for Applebees, I think. I'm not quite sure what they hell it was advertising. It featured a woman pleading for help, saying she needed help finding her kidnapped husband. A "famous" scientist, last seen at Applebees, then he was thrown in a van by "men in hoods." And then she offers a reward for any information leading to his return.

They even have a website (which I won't link to), where they somehow (it doesn't fit it to the time line of the story she tells in the commercial) have footage of his kidnapping (shown here, on the left).

I think what upsets me most, is that this is obviously meant to offer some form of diversion; intended to entertain. Which wouldn't be such a problem, if there wasn't a national news freak-out every time a white girl disappeared. (Think Chondra Levy, Lacy Peterson, or that girl in the Bahamas.) There's round-the-clock coverage, tons of articles, candle light vigils... yet hundreds of African American, Latina and Asian women go missing, get raped or are the targets of other violent crimes, and go completely unnoticed.

It's offensive enough when our country freaks out when a white person disappears (like mountain climbing, or something), and ignores other ethnicities and races... but to turn it into a joke? A pastime? A contest? C'mon... grow up, already.