-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
The Thank God For Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day was “record-setting.” Pastor Rick Warren tweeted that Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick-fil-A, called him with the good news. The Culture Warriors are positively giddy. But, is this level of sales sustainable?
According to YouGov’s BrandIndex’s Index score, Chick-fil-A’s perception among consumers dropped nearly 26 points since Cathy made his anti-LGBT remarks. In the South the Index score plummeted from 80 to 44. The biggest drop occurred in the Northeast where the score went from 76 to 35, a drop of 44 points.
The YouGov BrandIndex is a measure of brand perception created from thousands of daily consumer interviews. Brand perception is based on quality, satisfaction, reputation, value, general impression, and willingness to recommend.
A proper sampling would include all ages, genders, and ethic groups, but would focus on 18-34 year olds. The later demographic is important for growth of new customers. The older, white Christian conservative demographic, who has rallied in support of Cathy’s remarks, is declining.
The 18-29 year old demographic favors gay marriage by a whopping 63%. If Chick-fil-A wants to alienate this demographic, it would be like committing corporate suicide. Since Chick-fil-A is a private company, its sales figures can be kept secret. It is likely that Chick-fil-A’s plummeting brand perception will be reflected in sales.
While Cathy is free to offer monetary support the Family Research Council, designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, people are also free to withhold support form Cathy by not patronizing Chick-fil-A.
Bron,
You don’t know enough science to know that those people you think are making a choice effectively fall in to the spectrum of bisexuality and their behavior one sex preference over another gives the illusion of choice. Sexual orientation is a spectrum but it is not malleable, only how it is expressed is malleable. Bisexuals who lean one way or the other have no more choice over their orientation than homosexuals or heterosexuals. You may not have a problem with homosexuals (or bisexuals) and for that applause but you have a reality problem in insisting that the world conform to your ego worshiping religion instead of the scientific evidence. Sexual orientation is not a choice. Willful ignorance is a choice even when it doesn’t prevent you from reaching a right conclusion. That’s one of the most dastardly problems with logic: when right consequents affirm wrong predicates in the mind of the speaker. It’s not enough that a conclusion be right, Bron. The steps leading to that conclusion must be sound in and of themselves. A right conclusion reached by flawed predicates is still flawed logic. The predicate that every human action is governed by choice (conscious or not) is wrong and science tells us so. We have free will, but like many concepts, it isn’t the absolute you like to think it is.
Tony C:
I know enough gay people to know that some have made a choice and others are definitely born gay. I have no problem with either.
Apparently you do, so you say they are all born that way so it takes the “burden” off of them in your small mind. Personally I believe in live and let live, you do your thing and I will do my thing. You know, that quaint concept that you dont understand very well – individual freedom.
Tony C:
Personally I am all for gays getting married if they want to. You dont have to be left to be pro-gay. What I dont like is giving someone a hard time and trying to destroy them for having an opinion.
Seems to me the ignorance is on your side. Dont like what Cathy has to say then dont eat there. But that is what the far left does, it tries to destroy people with different views instead of just saying oh that guy is a dork and I will stop patronizing his establishment or I just wont vote for him in the next election. They go the extra mile, heck they go an extra league, to try and destroy people’s lives. I for one am sick of it.
You on the far left are as mystical as the Christians, Marx was a mystic so it is no wonder you dont like religion. Too much competition.
” I regret to tell Mr. Cathy I did not have a marriage based on biblical principles, since I am still here to write about it. Although I did not have a marriage by the biblical principles enumerated above, it worked well enough for 55 years.”~ Otteray Scribe
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🙂
thanks for the glee! …and my daily dose of sane….
Glad to hear Dan Cathy is fully supportive of the biblical definition and standard for marriage. I wonder if he researched that before he started his mouth?” Let’s take a quick look”
Is it OK to eat a chicken sandwich while you stone your non-virgin wife, or should you finish the sandwich first? As for concubines, I am afraid my own red headed Scots-Irish wife would have carved out my liver while I slept had I proposed acquiring a concubine or an extra wife or two. As for arranged marriages, I am afraid my daughters would poison my oatmeal if I tried that. Maybe I should have just sold them….that part is in the bible. I regret to tell Mr. Cathy I did not have a marriage based on biblical principles, since I am still here to write about it. Although I did not have a marriage by the biblical principles enumerated above, it worked well enough for 55 years.
H/T to the Randy Report:
http://randyreport.blogspot.com/2012/08/dan-cathy-believes-in-biblical.html
Correction in re response to mespo727272
On further review, I take back the wholeheartedly part: those involved in the kiss-ins were not quietly avoiding Chick fil A.
bettykath,
Your desire to understand the full impact of getting the government out of the marriage biz is sensible. What, to me, is also sensible is to understand the full impact of changing the status quo to allow same sex marriage. In particular, accepting your assertion that marriage is a civil right, what are the limits to that right? Does it allow polyandry? If so, must all partners to that union be married to all others?
“Cathy’s comments sway very few diners one way or the other. He’ll get a marginal response from the bigots for a time and other people on the other side of the issue will quietly avoid him. It’s not as though his stand will sway many people.”
I agree wholeheartedly; the response seen last week was primarily a response to the Mayors of Chicago and Boston.
Bron:
“This is a losing battle for the left as it has been redirected to a free speech issue. The more you complain, the more Chic-Fil-A’s revenues will increase.”
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My point all along is that it is no “battle” at all. Cathy’s comments sway very few diners one way or the other. He’ll get a marginal response from the bigots for a time and other people on the other side of the issue will quietly avoid him. It’s not as though his stand will sway many people. He is decidedly against the national trend and that’s his call. He has succeeded in persuading only those already so persuaded. Hallelujah!
@Bron: Right, because you just do not want to believe people are born homoosexuals. Apparently you believe homosexuality is a cultural choice, just like somebody’s race or gender I suppose. Just like your smug ignorance (oh wait, that one really IS a choice).
if you dont open a chic-fil-a franchise in San Francisco or LA, there isnt much to worry about. I am guessing Kennesaw, GA or Lafayette, LA isnt going to have a problem nor is Manilla, Ark. or Boise, ID.
So part of California, New York City, Seattle, Chicago and Boston and Washington, DC should be avoided, that leaves most of the country excluding Seattle, WA.
This is a losing battle for the left as it has been redirected to a free speech issue. The more you complain, the more Chic-Fil-A’s revenues will increase.
@Hubert: Homophobic or homophobia is a useless meaningless cliche. … the emotion regarding homosexuality isn’t of fear, but of digust.
Then homophobia is merely inaccurate, it is not meaningless or useless, because it conveys to listeners the a meaning close enough to “fear” that listeners will understand what we mean by “homophobic.”
Namely, we call people “homophobic” when those people think their “disgust” gives them the right to control the private lives of others.
Additionally, if EVERY homosexual quit going to Chick-Fil-A, it wouldn’t even be a blip on the radar screen.
You are misinformed on three levels. First, as to the number of homosexuals; about 10% of the population is born homosexual. (Yes BORN, their brains are organized differently than heterosexual brains).
Second, you do not understand the human nature of social interactions: homosexuals do not hang out exclusively with other homosexuals. In addition to heterosexuals in their extended family (parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews) they will have a wide array of heterosexual friends and business contacts, most of whom do not know or do not care if their employee is homosexual, as long as they do their job.
Third, you do not understand business, in particular the restaurant business. Unlike buying a car or computer or paper shredder, buying a meal at a restaurant is almost always a social experience, not a necessity. People arrive in groups of 2, 3 and 4. So let us do some arithmetic; if there is a 10% chance a person is a homosexual, what percentage of potential customers will be traveling in a social group with at least ONE homosexual?
The trick here is to compute the chances there are zero homosexuals in each group, and subtract that from 100%.
2: 81% have none, 19% have one or both members homosexual.
3: 73% have none, 27% have one, two or all.
4: 66% have none, 34% have at least one.
If all the homosexual(s) in the group refuse to eat at Chick-Fil-A on principle, then typically the entire group will eat elsewhere. If those group sizes are about equally representative, then the restaurant loses 28% of its business.
And that is JUST the homosexuals refusing to eat there. If each homosexual can convince ONE heterosexual to boycott Chick-Fil-A (and hey, I am one heterosexual already convinced), then 20% of the population boycotting CFA leads to an even more dramatic kill.
2: 36% contain a boycotter.
3: 49% contain a boycotter.
4: 59% contain a boycotter.
Overall: 51% of customers stay away. Do you truly think a restaurant could survive a 28% reduction in covers, or a 50% reduction in covers? If you do, you are naive in the extreme, most restaurants cannot survive even a 20% reduction in covers (a “cover” is a diner served in a meal period).
And please, do not backtrack and tell me how implausible it is, it was YOUR scenario that proposed eliminating ALL the homosexuals, and that would result in far more than a blip on the radar; it would most likely kill the restaurant.
The overwhelming crowds from Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day is representation of people who are getting really tired of the political correctness, and the double standard the leftwing wingnuts insist on perpetuating.
That is funny, because it is you guys that have a double-standard, literally. You believe different rules should apply to heterosexuals and homosexuals. Do you think your crowd would truly make it a criminal, prison offense to engage in anal sex or oral sex? Would your crowd truly outlaw sex that was not for the intent of procreation? Would your crowd truly outlaw sex for the sterile, incapable of procreation?
Hell no, they wouldn’t. But that covers 99% of the sex engaged in by homosexuals. So the only thing driving them is their emotional or religious reaction to homosexuality, and homosexuality is itself nothing but a collection of emotions, of attraction, lust and romantic love.
So the very people you are talking about are applying a double standard: They believe their desire to be free of disgust trumps any feeling of love or attraction or sexual desire in others.
Well, that self-centered, ego-centric, controlling, “I am all that matters” attitude disgusts ME. It is not “political correctness” that makes me write this, it is my disgust with simple minded jerks like you that think you have the right to control and ruin people’s lives by forcing them to comply with your senselessly bigoted and religious standards.
You are the one trying to impose “correctness” on others, and it is the homosexuals rejecting your view and demanding to be free. You are the brutal oppressor, pretending you are the bullied victim when your oppressive attitude is called out for what it actually is, a mean-spirited denial of rights, freedom and love to tens of millions of human beings on the basis of nothing more than “those people disgust me.”
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439×1639142 A more extensive list of Koch bros products…..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/05/mega-donors-bankrolling-religious-right_n_1735337.html?1344170428 Koch bros are bankrolling the religious right.
Elaine M:
I find Quilted Northern® an apt product of the Koch brothers. I use it thinking of them.
Uranus,
Here are the names of products manufactured by Georgia Pacific:
Angel Soft®
Brawny®
Coronet®
Dixie®
Mardi Gras®
MD Bathroom Tissue
Quilted Northern®
Soft ‘n Gentle®
Sparkle®
Vanity Fair®
Zee®
I meant:
Elaine said “I avoid purchasing products manufactured by companies owned by the infamous Koch brothers.”
What brands?
I avoid purchasing products manufactured by companies owned by the infamous Koch brothers.
The CEO of Amazon said he would give money to homosexual activists. Am I going to quit using Amazon? No. The CEO of Amazon has to deal with his decisions, not me. The decisions made will bear fruit. We already witnessed the fruits of Chick-Fil-A’s decisions. There isn’t any getting around it.
Mike Spindell1, August 4, 2012 at 8:50 pm
Tony C’s point is an excellent one that can be overlooked to easily in the back and forth about homophobia. What Cathy did as a businessman in doubling down on his personal opinion and what he has done in his managing of CFA is really quite stupid. A restaurant chain operation succeeds via maximizing its customer base. The alienstion of potential customers unneccessarily is bad business practice and will ultimately limit a company’s future. In the past I’ve patronized CFA even knowing their adherence to the management’s particular Christian belief. Their food is unhealthy but quite tasty. However, given what has come out regarding Cathy’s beliefs I will never patronize them. In a world with numerous food choices I have the luxury of not supporting businesses whose models I disagree with. In another context I also don’t shop at Walmart.
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Again, homophobia is a useless buzzword or strawman which has no meaning because the emotion regarding homosexuality isn’t fear but disgust.
I really believe that Chick-Fil-A isn’t going to miss you. The reason why is when I informed some people of what happened about the special interest groups getting so upset by a business owner using his first ammendment rights, they said they would start going to the restaurant as a means of support. So there’s three people that said they would start going even though they haven’t been before. So you have to realize that by the wingnuts showing out about Chick-Fil-A, they’re actually generating customers. The stupid comments from Roseanne Barr for example, probably added thousands more customers.