I bet they scare away ALL of their customers and force them to shut their doors.
Won't they be PROUD? ]
POST OF THE DAY!
Posted on 07/27/2012 4:25:08 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A has long stood by its Bible-based roots, keeping stores closed on Sundays and donating millions to Christian causes. But when its president, Dan Cathy, went public to defend his company's stance against gay marriage, he set off a considerable controversy that has everyone from politicians to puppets weighing in.
First telling the Baptist Press his company supported the "biblical definition of the family unit," Cathy then told the radio program The Ken Coleman Show, "I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we would have the audacity to try to redefine what marriage is all about."
The backlash spread swiftly. Boston's mayor pledged to block the chicken sandwich stores from opening in Beantown, a Chicago alderman said he'll try to stop a franchise from opening in his ward and the Jim Henson Co. cutoff its Chick-fil-A collaboration. Because it's a private company, it will be difficult to measure the bottom-line impact of all the attention.
Social Media Spread
Americus Reed, a marketing professor at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School who studies brand loyalty, says Cathy underestimated what might happen once his comments to a niche religious publication and a syndicated radio show spread to a wider audience.
"I think this is part of the wake-up call for companies to understand that social media makes these decisions very, very risky," Reed said, "because it's much easier now for these messages to get out to consumers and consumers to virtually organize."
Support For Gay Rights
But other companies see the risks of going public on controversial issues differently. This year, a handful of big brands have made headlines for taking the opposite side — supporting same-sex rights and benefits.
"From time to time we are going to make a decision that we think is consistent with the heritage and the tradition of the company that perhaps may be inconsistent with one group's view of the world," Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO, said at a shareholder meeting in March.
He explained the coffee giant's pro-gay positions were about making its employees proud — and aligning with its corporate values.
"Since we made that decision there has not been any dilution whatsoever in our business, and as you can see, shareholder value has increased significantly," Schultz said, citing revenue growth in the face of efforts like DumpStarbucks.com, led by pro-family organizations.
The lure of dollars from a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender market is another likely motivator for taking certain social stands. Marketing firm Witeck-Combs estimated the LGBT market's buying power at $800 billion last year.
"I think it's a sign of the times to try and speak to other groups that potentially one has not had a connection with, and that's just part and parcel with trying to grow your market," Reed said.
But beyond the big bucks, corporate reputation specialist Sekou Bermiss says companies may be motivated to contribute to community good.
"More and more, you see firms that are trying to or feel obliged to certain issues in society, [to] do some greater good in society," Bermiss said.
Boycotts And Bottom Lines
Starbucks, Target and General Mills all stepped into the same-sex marriage issue by supporting gay marriage legislation in their home states. Each face ongoing boycotts led by the American Family Association and the National Organization for Marriage for doing so. The National Organization for Marriage said it's uncertain whether its boycotts are having an impact on businesses.
And after JC Penney hired Ellen DeGeneres as its spokesperson, the socially conservative group One Million Moms called for her firing.
"They wanted to get me fired and I'm proud and happy to say that JC Penney stuck by their decision to make me their spokesperson," DeGeneres said on her show. The retailer also started running Mother's Day and Father's Day ads featuring same-sex couples.
But Reed says companies that make a social argument for business gain should be prepared to change course if an outcry leads to longer term losses.
"Most brands are keeping their heads down because these are very controversial sorts of strategies. And it probably makes sense — good business sense — to not weigh in on these issues," Reed said.
That's a lesson Chick-fil-A seems to be learning quickly.
It declined requests for an interview, but in a statement said, "Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate to the political arena
As I understand it, gays make up only 2 or 3 percent of the population.
Having that as a guide, I would much rather sell my product for a dollar to the 98 percent and have their ongoing business, than to make $300 per sale from the 2 percent by selling my morals and credibility down the sewer.
Evidently the managers of stores like Penny’s and Starbutts had this guy for their college professor.
JC Penny’s has seen the last of my money, and Starbutts coffee is awful, so I won’t miss them, heck, I won’t even go to their “going out of business” sale.
Chill-ing-Effect!
I bet they scare away ALL of their customers and force them to shut their doors.
Won't they be PROUD? ]
POST OF THE DAY!
The lure of dollars from a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender market is another likely motivator for taking certain social stands. Marketing firm Witeck-Combs estimated the LGBT market’s buying power at $800 billion last year.
If this is all about getting the LGBT to buy their products then perhaps they should take a look at the rest of their customer base who will be turned off over the LGBT pandering. Will the increased dollars from them match the dollars they will lose otherwise?
Maybe they need to look at JC Penney or Chick-fil-A for an answer to that.
Likely that could be addressed by tort.
The city of Half Moon Bay CA, screwed a developer at the behest of local environazis. He sued and won. He effectively owns the entire city now, they can't pay and have closed most departments and fired nearly all employees.
Dinner at CfA beats pledging to NPR.
Meet S. Truett Cathy, The 91-Year-Old Billionaire Behind Chick-Fil-A
Abilene is a conservative town, but I had to wait a half hour at the Chick Fillet at the mall today. It was busier than I have ever seen it. I believe someone on Facebook called for everyone to support them. and they sure did.
The local Chick-Fil-A is kinda out of my way normally. I’ll be off work next week and plan to eat there often. I’ve always liked their food and will support them with my patronage as often as possible.
Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, announced Friday they are donating $2.5 million to the campaign to defend Washington’s same-sex marriage law.
In November Washington State voters will vote on Referendum 74 to reject a law that would legalize same-sex marriage in the state. Bezos is kicking in dollars that could be used to improve the economy so that he can steer Washington State voters to keep same-sex marriage legal.
Same-sex marriage is a Trojan Horse for something more even more insidious: The elimination of the principle of Natural Law. Natural Law is tied intimately with the idea of traditional marriage—one-man-one woman. Natural Law is also tied to our Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Natural Law is a principle that the Left hates because it is the basis of our freedom: God ordained freedom and the natural order of marriage are both inalienable.
It is time to work for a new Constitutional Amendment: Marriage is a protected union between one-man and one-woman. We need to protect America from the savages who want to take away our freedom and tear down our institutions.
Dan Vathy is under fire for taking the same position about homosexual “marriage” that Obama publically took until he changed his mind.
Obama was agin it before he was for it.
(even though we all knew he was a flaming faggot)
Penneys paid good money to advertise to the sodomites.
Chick-fil-A didnt pay a dime and are just on the peak of the wave right now.
Some folks are stupid.
Some aint.
Something you won’t hear mentioned about Chick-Fil-a during this media bashing. A few years back when there was a mad cow scare in the USA, Mr Cathy pulled the company’s “Eat more Chickin” cow commercials to not take advantage of the beef scare. He is a man of principle
By all appearances, the “wake up call” to Chick-fil-A is that “supporting traditional values makes your sales skyrocket”.
At 2:30 today, my local CFA was full of customers, and they said that they have been crowded for days now. And it is still five days before the “buy-cott” there.
I truly think that the public has been pushed too far with the nasty liberal cultural agendas, and they are fed up. Buying chicken sandwiches is just the first indicator of people telling liberals to crawl back into their hole, and take their stupid ideas with them.
That’s “Eat-Mor-Chikn.”
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