Chick-Fil-A Caves

 

 

This is shocking and depressing news. Chick-Fil-A, which has long been on the receiving end of vitriol and harrasment from the LBGT Mob for operating their business based on the Christian beliefs of owner Dan Cathy (including opposition to same-sex marriage) just announced their surrender to the Mob. Specifically, Chick-Fil-A will no longer donate to the Salvation Army, the Paul Anderson Youth Home, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Over the years, Chick-Fil-A has donated millions of dollars to these and other charities. What these three charities that have been written out of Chick-Fil-A’s charitable giving have in common is that each is overtly Christian in their outlook and behavior and have been victims of the same harrasment by the LBGT Mob as Chick-Fil-A.

Chick-Fil-A is pretty transparent in why they are making this move. They are hopeful this move will prevent the type of opposition to the opening of new restaurants in progressive environs such as that of the San Antonio City Council banning of a proposed Chick-Fil-A at the local airport earlier this year. Chick-Fil-A President and CEO Tim Tassopoulos stated “There’s no question we know that, as we go into new markets, we need to be clear who we are. When there is a tension we want to be sure we’re being clear. We think this is going to be helpful. It’s just the right thing to do: be clear, caring and supportive and do it in the community.” A Chick-Fil-A spokesman stated that the chain will focus it’s charitable donations on “education, homeless, and hunger.” If so, they’ll have a hard time finding organizations that have done as much good in these areas as has the Salvation Army for over 150 years.

I don’t think this is going to work out the way Chick-Fil-A hopes it will. Chick-Fil-A has now shown that it will cave to the totalitarian LBGT Mob. With this victory in hand, the Mob will continue to push for complete capitulation to the LBGT agenda with the same ferocity they have up to this point, while conservatives (especially social conservatives) will view this as a betrayal and, if so, will frequent Chick-Fil-A a little less often. We shall see.

 

 

 

 

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  1. Mate De Inactive
    Mate De
    @MateDe

    according to CNBC, (who is owned by NBC who squashed a story about the most prolific pedophile in history) the Salvation Army is “controversial”. 

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/11/18/chick-fil-a-drops-donations-to-christian-charities-after-lgbt-protests.html

     

    • #31
  2. tigerlily Member
    tigerlily
    @tigerlily

    Mate De (View Comment):

    according to CNBC, (who is owned by NBC who squashed a story about the most prolific pedophile in history) the Salvation Army is “controversial”.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/11/18/chick-fil-a-drops-donations-to-christian-charities-after-lgbt-protests.html

     

    I especially like the terminology “…Both organizations have a history of opposing same -sex marriage.” in reference to the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Barack Obama, HIllary Clinton and Joe Biden (among many other Dems) also have a history of opposing same-sex marriage and also for the same cited reason – their Judeo-Christian world view. However, unlike Obama, Clinton & Biden, the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes see no reason to abandon the truth and traditional morality for the sake of political power.

    • #32
  3. E. Kent Golding Moderator
    E. Kent Golding
    @EKentGolding

    https://babylonbee.com/news/cfa-trades-christian-supporters-for-outraged-mob-that-will-stop-at-nothing-to-destroy-them

    • #33
  4. Bethany Mandel Coolidge
    Bethany Mandel
    @bethanymandel

    I was really surprised by this – it makes no business sense. In response to their stance they had a rabidly loyal fan base. Now they’ll have a few more spots in airports, but no more around the corner lines in red country. 

    • #34
  5. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Tassopoulos’ comment that “There’s no question we know that, as we go into new markets, we need to be clear who we are,” indicates that the recent kerfuffle over in England, where LGBTQ acitvists’ protests caused the landlord for Chick-fil-A’s first store there to terminate the lease, is the driving force in this move. The company’s decided it wants to expand into new territories, and wants to blunt the attacks by LGBTQ types that might stop that from happening.

    What they’re likely to find out is they’ve put themselves into a Kathleen Kennedy-Lucasfilms lite situation with their core customer base. When Disney put Kennedy in charge of the latest Star Wars trilogy, they thought they had a captive fan base that would shell out money to see anything tied to the Star Wars universe. With that belief, there wasn’t any problem going woke and pandering to the progressive activists, because hardcore fans would never, ever turn away from the series. The fans then proved them wrong — the current movies still make money, but not the type of money Disney had envisioned.

    Chick-fil-A is being less overtly woke here. But you don’t do this unless Tassopoulos and others at the company think their core customer base is locked in, and that they’ll make more money catering to the woke crowd while losing few, if any, current customers. But what they had was people who would go out of their way to support Chick-fil-A in part because of their politics. That’s likely to be gone now — many of those same people might not completely stop going there … but if there’s a KFC, a Popeye’s or a Church’s Fried Chicken that’s closer by, they’ll see no reason not to go there, because Chick-fil-A’s shown themselves to be just another fast food restaurant, with core beliefs that don’t jibe with their own any more than those of the owners of KFC, Popeye’s or Church’s Fried Chicken do.

    • #35
  6. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    I like  their food and will eat there.

    I refuse to make everything political.  

    • #36
  7. Gossamer Cat Coolidge
    Gossamer Cat
    @GossamerCat

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    I like their food and will eat there.

    I refuse to make everything political.

    As, frankly, did most of their customers.  The news outlets constantly shoved microphones into the face of the people who stood in line and they came from across the political spectrum.

    So their caving to the disembodied alphabet twitter mob is even more inexplicable.  I agree with @jon1979.  People will still go there, as they should,  but they may not go out of their way to go there.

    • #37
  8. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    It seems that the reports of their “caving” are exaggerated.  

    I won’t stop eating there.  Great service.  Great food.  Nice people.

    • #38
  9. DonG Coolidge
    DonG
    @DonG

    The is no forgiveness by Lefties. 

    • #39
  10. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Christian Post: Chick-fil-A denies capitulating to LGBT activists; Christian groups won’t be excluded from donations

    Regardless of how you view their explanation of their charitable-giving programs, I think we all know that if we fell into a coma today and woke up 20 years hence the CFA cows on the billboard would be exclaiming that steers can have udders and give milk, too.

    • #40
  11. Unsk Member
    Unsk
    @Unsk

    “It feels like the most effective way to express our disappointment is to reduce our visits.”

    Yep. To second Mathias, Bethany and others, this is a very bad business decision.

    I have not had one of their sandwiches, unfortunately.  There are only two Chick -Fil-A anywhere near me and they are always mobbed – so I haven’t had one even though I have tried.  But the Big Takeway should be – You don’t take a big dump on your loyal fan base just to expand your market a tiny bit.  You already have a CEO come out against Gay Marriage and so Chick -Fil-A will always be associated with a religious view of Marriage. The Left will never relent and never forgive. This move will do nothing to improve their marketing position among the left and woke authorities illegally denying them where they can establish their restaurants.

    So they don’t get to put a franchise in a airport  this week- they will eventually win that case and will be able to go anywhere in these United States. That said their market penetration in the huge market of California, easily a potential market as big as they would have in Britain and all the airports in the US combined,  is next to zilch so it’s not like they have exhausted all their market opportunities and just had to go to these woke protected places.

    • #41
  12. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Skyler (View Comment):

    It seems that the reports of their “caving” are exaggerated.

    I won’t stop eating there. Great service. Great food. Nice people.

    The problem for Chick-fil-A here is they’ve put down a marker, and while they’ve been frantically revising and extending their remarks since the original story hit, people will be watching to see if they donate in the future to the Salvation Army. And the timing of this — right before the Christmas shopping season, when the Salvation Army is most in the public spotlight — was really gawdawful public relations, especially coming right after the NFL refused to bow to the SJW activists and ban the Salvation Army from next Thursday’s Dallas Cowboys’ Thanksgiving game.

    The league and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones called Ellie Goulding’s bluff on threatening to boycott performing at the halftime show after she was pressured by LGBTQ activists. So in seeming to give into pressure here over their Salvation Army donations, Chick-fil-A’s managed to position themselves to the left of the NFL on the issue. Someone needs to be demoted from their marketing department to manning the drive-thru window at their nearest store (bonus points if the same person who came up with this idea had any inclinations to float Colin Kaepernick as Chick-fil-A’s new spokesperson — he was near the company’s headquarters in Atlanta this past weekend….)

    • #42
  13. Brian Watt Inactive
    Brian Watt
    @BrianWatt

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Christian Post: Chick-fil-A denies capitulating to LGBT activists; Christian groups won’t be excluded from donations

    Regardless of how you view their explanation of their charitable-giving programs, I think we all know that if we fell into a coma today and woke up 20 years hence the CFA cows on the billboard would be exclaiming that steers can have udders and give milk, too.

    The explanation reported in the Christian Post, seems sorta, kinda sketchy and vague. The “more focused” phraseology seems to be problematic. The CP is reporting this from an unnamed CFA representative in an email that is not shown. Why doesn’t the CFA CEO issue a public statement ASAP PDQ to put the matter to rest? Otherwise, this will continue to proliferate on social media and hurt their sales. 

    I need more acronyms.

    • #43
  14. Gossamer Cat Coolidge
    Gossamer Cat
    @GossamerCat

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Christian Post: Chick-fil-A denies capitulating to LGBT activists; Christian groups won’t be excluded from donations

    Regardless of how you view their explanation of their charitable-giving programs, I think we all know that if we fell into a coma today and woke up 20 years hence the CFA cows on the billboard would be exclaiming that steers can have udders and give milk, too.

    “There are lots of articles and newscasts about Chick-fil-A, and we thought we needed to be clear about our message.”

    He continued: “When there is a tension, we want to make sure we’re being clear. We think this is going to be helpful.”

    “It’s just the right thing to do: to be clear, caring, and supportive and do it in the community.”

    Well that cleared it up!  

    • #44
  15. The Cloaked Gaijin Member
    The Cloaked Gaijin
    @TheCloakedGaijin

    The Salvation Army apparently has lots of LGBTQ commercials and promotions out already I learned after the Ellie Goulding (whoever that is) controversy.

    There was this story from a few weeks or days ago:  “Ellie Goulding threatens to cancel her Cowboys Thanksgiving halftime show over Salvation Army concerns”

    Of course, here she is supporting the Salvation Army, but this is a recent photo?  I can’t bother to research.  Everything about these stories are stupid.  Conservatives and Christians caving into idiots.  (The only reason the Bill of Rights and the Ten Commandments still exist is because they were written down.  Everything else seems to collapse and disappear at the drop of a hat…)

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    This is what happens when the founder dies.  Truett Cathy died September 8, 2014, at age 93.

    Most remarkably, I remember that founder Mr. Cathy’s son’s extremely, extremely mild criticism of gay marriage in June 2012 which sparked the Chick-fil-A boycotts was made only one month after President Obama decided to support gay marriage in May 2012.

    • #45
  16. Samuel Block Support
    Samuel Block
    @SamuelBlock

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    They need to listen to Rush Limbaugh. These organizations cannot be appeased. Ever. Whatever you do is never enough.

    Or they just need to be people with eyes and ears!

    How has this managed to escape the minds of so many people who are paid well to make good business decisions. Are they unfamiliar with a utility analysis? Or a simple pros and cons list?

    • #46
  17. Samuel Block Support
    Samuel Block
    @SamuelBlock

    Vance Richards (View Comment):

    Here are some of the horrible things the Salvation Army does . . .

    So what did S.A. do, or not do, that inspired the alphabeters to label them “anti-LGBT?”

    • #47
  18. Samuel Block Support
    Samuel Block
    @SamuelBlock

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):

    Here’s the thing – they make great chicken sandwiches, and sides and salads. They’re closed on Sundays. They have served protesters and law enforcement and have shown up in areas where tragedy has occurred and served, including Sunday. They’ve served those that protested them, the LGBTQ plus group, who stood in line with signs against them. Please. Stop making everything political and let this company serve the public, and buy their product. My husband eats here all the time. They are standing firm on campuses. Can we support them in their hour of contemplation and need?

    Oh, I’m not gonna stop eating there. It’s a great company. 

    But it’s demonstrably the case that this is done because corporations think they can make gains with the opposition, without the Right punishing them for it. I suppose some have cause to consider this a betrayal. I just think it’s weak. 

    That said, the company has already stuck its neck out in a way that most haven’t and wouldn’t. 

    • #48
  19. The Cloaked Gaijin Member
    The Cloaked Gaijin
    @TheCloakedGaijin

    Samuel Block (View Comment):

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    They need to listen to Rush Limbaugh. These organizations cannot be appeased. Ever. Whatever you do is never enough.

    Or they just need to be people with eyes and ears!

    “All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing.” — John O’Sullivan’s first law

    This is the same thing that caused the Boy Scouts recently to abandon the concept of “morally straight”, to bring pedophilia types in as possible scout masters, and to allow girls into a boys organization — all of this for an organization that encourages outdoor camping away from parents for young and confused people with overflowing hormones.  As I remember, this all happened as respected cabinet secretaries and Boy Scout organization leaders Robert Gates and Rex Tillerson looked the other way.  Tillerson was president of the Boy Scouts of America from 2010 until 2012.  Gates was a former president of the National Eagle Scout Association and was elected to the National executive board of Boy Scouts of America in 2013.

    • #49
  20. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    I like  their food and will eat there.

    I refuse to make everything political.

    • #50
  21. Mate De Inactive
    Mate De
    @MateDe

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    I like their food and will eat there.

    I refuse to make everything political.

    Right now we are forced to make everything political. You will be made to care.

    i mean this is crazy the Salvation Army is considered controversial? Full blown insanity. So what if they are Christian and aren’t for gay marriage, what’s it to you them? But that is the thing, every last person who holds the view of traditional marriage will be drummed out of society. If the Salvation Army can be dragged through the mud anyone can. 

    • #51
  22. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    Samuel Block (View Comment):

    Vance Richards (View Comment):

    Here are some of the horrible things the Salvation Army does . . .

     

    So what did S.A. do, or not do, that inspired the alphabeters to label them “anti-LGBT?”

    They preach from the Bible. Some singer threatened to pull out of the halftime show on Thanksgiving because the NFL works with the Salvation Army, so the attacks seems to be coordinated.

    • #52
  23. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Christian Post: Chick-fil-A denies capitulating to LGBT activists; Christian groups won’t be excluded from donations

    I just have a problem with cutting out the Salvation Army and giving the explanation of wanting to focus on “areas of hunger, homelessness and education.” Not sure that any organization does more for hunger and homelessness in America than the Salvation Army. They can do what they want with their money, of course, but I’m not buying their reasoning.

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    Regardless of how you view their explanation of their charitable-giving programs, I think we all know that if we fell into a coma today and woke up 20 years hence the CFA cows on the billboard would be exclaiming that steers can have udders and give milk, too.

    Like that Barnyard movie where they had boy cows instead of bulls.

    Otis

    • #53
  24. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Brian Watt (View Comment):

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Christian Post: Chick-fil-A denies capitulating to LGBT activists; Christian groups won’t be excluded from donations

    Regardless of how you view their explanation of their charitable-giving programs, I think we all know that if we fell into a coma today and woke up 20 years hence the CFA cows on the billboard would be exclaiming that steers can have udders and give milk, too.

    The explanation reported in the Christian Post, seems sorta, kinda sketchy and vague. The “more focused” phraseology seems to be problematic. The CP is reporting this from an unnamed CFA representative in an email that is not shown. Why doesn’t the CFA CEO issue a public statement ASAP PDQ to put the matter to rest? Otherwise, this will continue to proliferate on social media and hurt their sales.

    I need more acronyms.

    Easy proof for Chik-Fil-A – publicly commit to giving more money to the SA in 2020-2021 than they did in 2018-2019.

    • #54
  25. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Samuel Block (View Comment):

    Oh, I’m not gonna stop eating there. It’s a great company.

    But it’s demonstrably the case that this is done because corporations think they can make gains with the opposition, without the Right punishing them for it. I suppose some have cause to consider this a betrayal. I just think it’s weak.

    That said, the company has already stuck its neck out in a way that most haven’t and wouldn’t.

    In the end it’s about future bottom line and growing the brand. They’ve decided in areas like Europe or even Canada, where Chick-fil-A is less established, the narrative has already been set up by the LGBTQ advocates and others on the left that the company is a bunch of bigoted Christers. This is their way of trying to knock that down.

    It might work, but there’s a good chance it’s going to cut into the explosive growth and per-store sales of their U.S. outlets. Like I noted above, the Disney people didn’t kill, but severely damaged their Star Wars brand by catering to the woke crowd — people still went to see the last few movies, but they lost the core fan base that would see the movies in the theaters 3-4 times. Chick-fil-A is likely to lose the people willing to drive miles out of the way or wait in super-long lines at their stores, which in turn aren’t going be as long in the future. Then it becomes a question of whether or not losing the fanatical loyalty of its core fans and being seen as just another fast food joint is offset by the new places they think they’ll be able to open without the left protesting them (which, of course the left won’t stop doing — Ray Kroc’s widow started pandering to liberal causes in the late 1980s after her husband died, and the left still hated McDonald’s because it was a big, successful corporation).

    • #55
  26. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Unfortunately left wingers in political office can make life for companies very difficult.  I too am disappointed Chick-Fil-A caved but I can understand.  Once society caved on same sex marriage, then it was a matter of time until the left wingers set up the conditions for all compliance.  The bottom line is that it’s not Chick-Fil-A’s responsibility to change society.  It is ours.  We just need to keep it up, keep pointing out the absurdity of two people of the same gender marrying.  Perhaps we can change society back.

    • #56
  27. Valiuth Member
    Valiuth
    @Valiuth

    You could have a few out burst of increased consumption from the Red State people every now and then when your fight with the Blue State people becomes national News. Or you can forgo those random booms for a steady stream of Blue State customers. In the long run betting on expanded markets is the best bet. People buy their product because it us tasty, they will continue to do so for that reason. They need more market share and for that they need more locations and to expand internationally to compete with McDonlads and KFC. This move I think makes sense. It also has the bonus of making all the Trumpers angry…mmmm conservative tears. 

    Next they should start being open on Sundays, think how much more business they can do. 

    • #57
  28. Phil Turmel Inactive
    Phil Turmel
    @PhilTurmel

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    I like their food and will eat there.

    I refuse to make everything political.

    I can’t agree, Bryan.  Something is political if either side makes it political.  Just like warfare.  The only question is how to respond.

    I will complain to my local Chik-fil-A, the one my elder children worked for.  My youngest works for Zaxby’s.  They’ll get more of my business.

    • #58
  29. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    • #59
  30. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    E. Kent Golding (View Comment):

    https://babylonbee.com/news/cfa-trades-christian-supporters-for-outraged-mob-that-will-stop-at-nothing-to-destroy-them

    Politicfact will be fact checking this article in three…, two….,  ….

    • #60
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