photo: Team Coco
So the President of Chick-Fil-A is married to his first wife, believes in the "traditional" marriage unit(traditional as defined by the bible, of course), and scorns gay marriage.
So what.
Chick-Fil-A's intolerance and support of anti-gay causes is pretty well documented. You either agree with that or you don't. Personally, I disagree with it, but being in the Northwest, the decision to NOT visit CFA is pretty easy.
The real news here isn't the intolerance/values of a single CEO, his family, or even one organization. It's the question: can a business take a moral stand of this kind and capitalize on it from a business perspective?
Newspapers around the country reported huge lines and support for Chick-Fil-A on Huckabee's erstwhile "National Chick-Fil-A Day." To me that's a disappointment, but when your major business presence is in an area that still refers to the "War of Northern Aggression", I suppose its to be expected.
But will it last? Riling the troops, mobilizing your base for one day is a positive effect for the company, surely - but will they lose in the long run? If they lose 5% of their business EVERY day and gain 100% for one day, that's a long-term loser. But if Christians turn out10% more and gay-supporters drop out to the tune of a 5-10% loss, it could be a big winner. Will CFA grow as a result of their CEO's moral stance? And is that growth sustainable?
If they do grow - if their quarterly financials indicate that this position is positive for their company - I predict we'll see more of it as other similarly geographically situated companies seek to identify themselves with this strong Christian base. We'll see Christian values go more mainstream in advertising. This is similar to past efforts to cast anti-war sentiments as unpatriotic("I support our troops!"), and are nothing more than an opportunity for one group to claim their moral superiority to another.
So time will tell - if moral superiority statements like Chick-Fil-A's become an effective marketing strategy for companies in the future!
So what.
Chick-Fil-A's intolerance and support of anti-gay causes is pretty well documented. You either agree with that or you don't. Personally, I disagree with it, but being in the Northwest, the decision to NOT visit CFA is pretty easy.
The real news here isn't the intolerance/values of a single CEO, his family, or even one organization. It's the question: can a business take a moral stand of this kind and capitalize on it from a business perspective?
Newspapers around the country reported huge lines and support for Chick-Fil-A on Huckabee's erstwhile "National Chick-Fil-A Day." To me that's a disappointment, but when your major business presence is in an area that still refers to the "War of Northern Aggression", I suppose its to be expected.
But will it last? Riling the troops, mobilizing your base for one day is a positive effect for the company, surely - but will they lose in the long run? If they lose 5% of their business EVERY day and gain 100% for one day, that's a long-term loser. But if Christians turn out10% more and gay-supporters drop out to the tune of a 5-10% loss, it could be a big winner. Will CFA grow as a result of their CEO's moral stance? And is that growth sustainable?
If they do grow - if their quarterly financials indicate that this position is positive for their company - I predict we'll see more of it as other similarly geographically situated companies seek to identify themselves with this strong Christian base. We'll see Christian values go more mainstream in advertising. This is similar to past efforts to cast anti-war sentiments as unpatriotic("I support our troops!"), and are nothing more than an opportunity for one group to claim their moral superiority to another.
So time will tell - if moral superiority statements like Chick-Fil-A's become an effective marketing strategy for companies in the future!
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