This message can appear if you attempt to embed a drawing object inside another object that was not designed to accept the object. Drawing objects are generally placed on the main document or within the drawing canvas and not within another drawing object. By design, it is not possible to embed a drawing object in a callout, comment, footnote, or an endnote. Attempting to do so will cause this message to display.
If you are trying to build a special graphic by using multiple drawing objects, it is possible to layer drawing objects by adjusting their Color (No Fill), Position, and Text Wrapping. These commands are available on the Format tab after you have inserted a new drawing object. You may also want to adjust the z-order (Order command on the drawing object's context menu).
After the object (special graphic) is built, you can then group (Grouping command on the drawing object's context menu) all the objects together to make them act as one drawing object.