We haven't been by the intersection of Hwys. 105 and 321 to look, but we hear that all 86 of Mr. Furman's Wendy franchises in North Carolina have been told to post this in-your-face political message. His right, as it is our right not to eat at any of his franchises. This pic is from Asheville.
I am a firm believer in keep your religion and your business separate. Why would you want to alienate any potential customer?
ReplyDeleteJW...I totally agree with you in that it is your right to spend your money wherever you want to ..(Well, except in the case of Health Insurance but that's another topic)
ReplyDeleteBut, you do agree don't you, that Mr Furman has the right to speak out on issues of concern to him? Or do you think he - and other business owners - should be punished if they hold opinions different than yours on controversial topics?
I ask this in all seriousness and would be interested in your thoughts on the topic.
I prefer to eat local, in any case - and that doesn't mean franchises. Glad to know this guy's politics.
ReplyDeleteFurman contributed $20,000 to the Soucek Marriage amendment campaign.
ReplyDeleteHave you been by Chic-fil-A and seen the HUGE crowds that even require police to direct traffic? The public has spoken.
ReplyDeleteTo me seeing people running out to support a company that is using its profits to deny rights to anyone for any reason is as bad as people running out to support a KKk rally.
ReplyDeleteAfter all doesn't the KKK claim they are discriminating based on biblical beliefs?
Good. Maybe what we need now is a Furman appreciation day? We could probably do for the LOCALLY owned Wendy's franchise what we did for Chick Fil A!
ReplyDeleteInternational Christian relief and evangelism charity organization Samaritan's Purse run by Franklin Graham contributed $150,200 towards newspaper and TV advertising in support of the NC Marriage Amendment, according to an Independent Expenditure report filed with the NC State Board of Elections.
ReplyDeleteA total of $272,593.70 was reported spent by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association on full page ads in NC newspapers featuring the image of Billy Graham and words attributed to him and, on TV ads with similar content all with the legend "Paid for by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association". $190,200 was reported as contributions from other persons or entities leaving $82,393.70 as the assumed direct contribution of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Of the $190,200 contributed by others $150,200 came from Samaritan's Purse based in Boone, NC. $20,000 came from Mark DeMoss of Duluth, GA, and another $20,000 came from Dick Furman of Boone, NC. Mark DeMoss is an evangelical who runs a Christian PR agency and serves as an advisor to Mitt Romney. Dick Furman is a doctor who founded World Medical Mission which is part of the Samaritan's Purse organization, on whose board he sits.
In soliciting donations on its website Samaritan's Purse states:
Your gift to "Where Most Needed" equips Samaritan's Purse with the resources—including personnel, materials, supporting services, buildings, and equipment—to fulfill our mission of relief and evangelism worldwide.
Nowhere on the charity's website does it state that funds will be used for political activity or to influence elections though Franklin Graham was very public in support of the Constitutional Amendment that calcified existing state marriage law and banned civil unions. The only references to marriage found on the site relate to abstinence and faithfulness programs. While the bills were directly paid by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association the major source of funds was Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse at 55% of the total while the Billy Graham group contributed at most 30%.
Read more: http://bluenc.com/samaritans-purse-spent-150k-nc-constitutional-amendment#ixzz22KFVz744
When asked for comment, Wendy's consumer relations department told Towerload: "This is one independent franchisee's personal opinion. We are proud to serve customers of varied races, backgrounds, cultures and sexual orientation, with different beliefs and values. Bearing that in mind, this franchisee has decided to remove the messages from his restaurant signs." The official Wendy's Twitter account has been responding to all inquiries about the signs with: "An independent franchisee posted the sign, which he's taken down. We proudly serve ALL customers!"
ReplyDeleteJim Furman, CEO of Tarheel Capital that owns all the Wendy's franchises told WBTV that the sign supporting Chick-fil-A was removed because the company "felt it was time to go back to their marketing message." Or, let's not get involved this, okay?
http://eater.com/archives/2012/08/01/wendys-franchise-owner-takes-down-signs-supporting-chickfila.php
Folks, fairly simple, what these people are standing for is a man's freedom of speech and the freedom to believe as he does. I appreciate Mr Cathy's stand as I appreciate others opionions. I know most of you that contribute to this blog, believe in freedom of speech, so please allow another to have that same right, even if it is different than yours. If you are making a big deal of this, then you do not have enough to do
ReplyDeleteJohn, I don't object to anyone's right to an opinion. I object to his attempts to deny the same freedoms to others. Chic Filet's CEO is spending huge amounts of money to discriminate and hurt other people. And their food is junk anyway.
ReplyDeleteBrushfire, then don't eat there if you don't like their food. it doesn't matter. Your business is insignificant. Yesterday was the largest sales they have ever had.
ReplyDeleteAnon 2:13 if yesterday was their biggest day when the supporters all showed up, What will the next fiscal quarter be when the people who chik fil a offends stop going there be?
ReplyDeleteIs one good day worth offending possibly 50% of the country as possible customers?
Yes John. Don't you know we disagree with anyone providing financial supports to the things they believe in?
ReplyDeleteThey should be using that money to promote the killing of unborn babies, then we would support them.
All I know is that Chik-fil-a lost me as a customer over this issue - and I was a pretty loyal customer.
ReplyDeleteIt's fine for Dan Cathy to speak his mind and spend his money as he chooses. And those of us who see the use of that $ to support hate groups as morally wrong can choose not to eat at his restaurants. It's pretty simple and it has nothing to do with the right to free speech, which is in no way being compromised. In fact this whole debate is a great example of free speech being exercised on both sides: Cathy's freedom to speak and act as he sees fit and the customers' freedom to make a statement with a boycott. So can we stop with these misguided comments about taking away someone's freedom of speech? That's not what's happening here.
Free Speech For Liberals said...
ReplyDeleteI take it from your post you would prefer Chik-Fil-A to use the money they spend now on denying rights to gay couple and instead use it to deny reproductive rights to women ?
Not Really,
ReplyDeleteThat was, for a change, a very sensible post! But, the 'free speech' issue isn't about individuals who choose to boycott, it's about governments using their government authority to deny building permits to those with whom they disagree politically. That is chilling!
I hope you would agree that issuing building permits, licenses, etc based on peoples political leanings is wrong!
Boonie said "I hope you would agree that issuing building permits, licenses, etc based on peoples political leanings is wrong!"
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. I think what the mayor of Boston (and was it Chicago, too?) seemed to be proposing was wrong. But somehow that argument has spilled over to include people who are simply boycotting Chik-fil-a as well, and that's where the whole free speech issue gets muddled and misunderstood.
Not Really, you're absolutely right! To me, this issue is the very definition of free speech. Dan Cathy gets to say whatever he wants, and those who disagree with him get to say whatever they want. I do think it's misguided on his part. He can say whatever he wants that he personally believes, but when he drags his company into it, he's suddenly speaking for a lot of people who don't have the same standing that he does. His restaurants do employ gay people and they have gay customers (at least in the past). It is bad business to openly antagonize any group of potential customers.
ReplyDeleteTo all those people bragging on various posts on this blog and elsewhere, I would like to ask one simple question summed up by this image.
ReplyDeletehttp://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/251810_10151083915146940_279220627_n.jpg
You're perfectly fine with coming out to eat your chicken combo and jumbo coke to support a guy who came out against gay marriage.
But where are you good little Christians when that money could be used by habitat for humanity, hospitality house, or countless other charity causes locally and nationally?
But hey eat more chicken and preach more hate, that's what counts right?
Henry Rollins said it well in my opinion. http://i.imgur.com/SenS2.jpg
ReplyDelete