Somebody needs to send Chick-fil-A Inc. the memo that social media has become part of business intelligence. For a company steeped in BI, the popular fast food chain demonstrated a stunning lapse in the last two weeks.
Ever since, the Internet and social media have flared with diatribes on both sides of the issue. But instead of taking the high road, Chick-fil-A appears to be operating from a disconnect on the social media front.
On Facebook last night, the company denied that it had used a phony Facebook account to weigh in on a thread over Cathy's position. Here's the official statement:
Hey Fans, thanks for being supportive. There is a lot of misinformation out there. The latest is we have been accused of impersonating a teenager with a fake Facebook profile. We want you to know we would never do anything like that and this claim is 100% false. Please share with this with your friends.
The Facebook issue started when a "person" named Abby Farle turned up on the food chain's page arguing against claims that Chick-fil-A had canceled orders for toy giveaways to spite the Jim Henson Company of Muppets fame. The chain claims it canceled the orders for safety reasons. But the move came after the Jim Henson Company ended their partnership over Cathy's stance on same-sex marriage.
Facebook participants exposed Abby Farle as an account created eight hours before the thread in question, using a stock photo. (You can see the lettering over the headshot.) "Nice try by Chick-fil-a PR guy," wrote one poster.
The Abby Farle debacle wasn't the only recent embarrassing moment for Chick-fil-A on social media. Immediately after Cathy's comments started burning up the Net, the company posted the following statement on its Facebook page:
The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect -- regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.
Granted, it's entirely possible that Chick-fil-A, as a corporate entity, stands apart from Mr. Cathy's views. But denying the views of the president of a family-owned business whose founder, S. Truett Cathy (Dan's father), remains chairman and CEO -- it challenges belief.
At the very least, Chick-fil-A should have learned more about social media, given its expertise and finesse in BI and IT overall.
And make no mistake. Business intelligence plays a leading role at Chick-fil-A. Its officers and directors include a vice president of business analysis (Roger E. Blythe, Jr.); a senior director of financial, people, and BI systems (Mark L. Brackett); a senior director of business analysis (Sandi T. Moody); and a CIO (Michael E. Erbrick). It also has a sizable business analysis division, with interns, supervisors, and managers of BI.
In terms of IT, Chick-fil-A also has numerous IT subdivisions dedicated to applications, mobility, and other key areas. With a state-of-the-art corporate structure in support of BI, how can it stumble so badly when it comes to social media?
At the very least, it should have been ready for the fallout. Presumably, if social media had been incorporated into its business intelligence systems more effectively, the company may have anticipated the feedback and been prepared to dedicate people full time to dealing with it on Facebook and elsewhere. Certainly, the controversy would have persisted, but denial and backpedaling aren't really strategies that work well on social networks.
Queries by phone and email to Chick-fil-A's PR department about the role of social media in its BI systems remained unanswered at the time of this writing. But it may be telling that, in a job posting for a business intelligence analyst that appeared within the last few months, there is no mention of social media, despite a list of requirements for technical knowledge and skills in gathering information.
We'll wait to hear something. In the meantime, could someone please let Chick-fil-A in on the concept of social business?
I absolutely agree that people do ( and should) "vote with their feet". I meant to imply that I do so myself. What I am bothered about is the suggestion I am seeing that some opinions are somehow not to be publicly expressed because one or other special interest group opposes it. The "motion to suppress" is some times explicit, but more often -- and more subtly and dangerously -- implicit. Not patronizing Chic-Fil-A is one thing. Seeking to disrupt its business because you disagree with the Chairman's opinion is something else -- something that feels like an attack on First Amendment rights.
I think something we've seen happen a great deal in corporate America is sponsors and customers voting with their feet when they find opinions objectionable. (Imus lost his show through it; recently, Limbaugh took some hard hits). I think that's entirely acceptable, and -- whether or not Chick-fil-A fits the description -- I think people should be encouraged to withhold custom from enterprises which are hostile to civil rights.
I don't think this equates to suppression of opinion.
That seems to be an ethical question. At a personal level I have no problem with it -- there are people I do not associate with, personally or in business, because they hold opinions which I find repugnant and (perhaps more significantly to me) act upon those opinions in ways that I find unacceptable. It's the general case that I find more difficult. Are there opinions which should be suppressed? On the one hand, some opinions -- once given life by action -- have had appalling results. Equally, the suppression of opinions has had appalling results. All in all, I think a free society has to support freedom of belief and expression -- and be willing to legislate action.
- Was there an appreciable spike in sales, or was this an incident at a few stores magnified by the news media and social media?
- Will the long-term spike in sales be offset by people staying away from the stores based on their political views? And were those people going to Chick-fil-A in the first place?
I can understand people getting tired of this story already, but I honestly can't understand the comments I've seen today that all kinds of people you buy stuff from have different opinions than you. There must be a point where the difference in opinion matters (whether in this case it does, or not).
IRowlands, I'm sure you're right in terms of current sales. Most Chick-fil-A customers just won't care. But long-term brand damage - becoming the punchline of a joke, in effect - is harder to quantify.
Agreed, IRowlands. It seems that when views are stated clearly on social media, there isn't as much of a problem as when a firm waffles or pretends to be on both sides of an issue when its management really isn't. People sense the disconnect and they go right for the jugular.
It's interesting to come to this a day or so late, and see that what felt like it should be a social media debacle hasn't really turned out that way. Dan Cathy articulating what most Chick-Fil-A afficionado's would expect to be his stance hasn't chased away any of his customers. The reaction from those who disagree has been just as predictable. Note that there was nothing surprising about his views ... they have been widely known for a long time. But predictably, when Mr. Cathy spoke out loud, the "outrage" was forthcoming. I confess to being surprised that "Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day" garnered as much support as it did, and that it generated as much social media traffic as it did.
The net of this, to me, is that social media clumsiness may be less damaging when views are already polarized, and more damaging when it causes cognitive dissonance.
Regarding my last point that extending political, religous, or philosophical views on social media opens one up to an entirely new field of interaction: Chick-Fil-A is now in the news regularly for Dan Cathy's remarks, whether the chain's marketers like it or not.
Then again, this is a family-run business. Cathy will choose the kind of public face he wants to project, and he seems willing to live with the fallout.
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