By snoadmin
Cows across the country are dreading the fallout from a political stance taken by a popular fast-food chain built around the chicken sandwich.
Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy has put his company in quite a pickle since standing firm on his company’s view on gay marriage. Cathy was recently quoted saying he was “guilty as charged” when it came to supporting “the biblical definition of the family unit.”
This comes as no surprise since the company has visibly displayed its Christian roots for years by refusing to open for business on Sundays.
Chick-fil-A has also quietly opposed gay marriage by financially supporting several anti-gay bodies, one such being Exodus International, a non-profit organization set on limiting homosexual and bisexual desires.
While people are entitled to their own opinions and can run their companies whichever way they choose, it is hard not to question Chick-fil-A’s openness on a hot-button issue unrelated to its business.
With popular opinion in the U.S. on gay marriage nearly an even split, Chick-fil-A has chosen to potentially anger and steer away half of its customer base.
Not to mention, Chick-fil-A has unfairly drawn in thousands of employees who may not share the same views as their CEO.
In this economy, an employee should not have to take into consideration their employer’s political views. Chick-fil-A employees should not have to be associated with the gay marriage topic at all, but they undoubtedly will be.
Chick-fil-A’s image also sunk when someone (possibly Chick-fil-A itself) started creating fake profiles to defend the company on social media pages.
Chick-fil-A used to give away Muppets finger puppets in its kids meals. The Jim Henson Company quickly pulled its toys from Chick-fil-A following Cathy’s comments
However, Chick-fil-A insisted the Muppets toys were pulled because people were getting their fingers stuck in the tiny puppets. But, the Jim
Henson Company made it clear it only ditched Chick-fil-A due to their political views on gay marriage.
Chick-fil-A was vilified on its Facebook page for not only opposing gay marriage but for losing Kermit the Frog’s support as well. Then someone thought it was a “good idea” to take stock photos from a website, create a fake profile under the alias Abby Farle then ridicule those expressing their opinions on the Chick-fil-A fan page.
Of course, the Internet was quick to discover Farle was a fake, and since then she has gone missing.
But, even with its missteps, much of Chick-fil-A’s headaches have been escalated by the media’s relentless coverage of the issue. As a country, should we really care what the CEO of Chick-fil-A thinks? If Colonel Sanders of KFC was against women’s suffrage, would we listen to him? No.
Cathy is not a politician; he is good at frying chicken. Both he and America need to realize this.
As far as Boston’s Mayor Thomas Menino and other major cities like Chicago and New York calling for a ban on Chick-fil-A in their cities, they don’t have the right to regulate commerce as such. Banning a company that discriminates against its employees is one thing, but demanding a business be banned because its CEO is a loud-mouth is another.
Banning Chick-fil-A from cities would hurt innocent employees and customers who are addicted to their Chick-fil-A sauce. Menino and other politicians should be smarter than this and stop ruffling more feathers by dragging more innocent bystanders into this crummy situation.
Chick-fil-A would be wise to keep politics out of their expensive chicken sandwiches. If closing on Sundays already hurts business, angering half the country will as well.
Whatever your stance is on gay marriage, this debacle will leave you with a decision when you crave Chick-fil-A: who comes first the chicken or the gays?
