Technology supercharges Chick-fil-A gaffe

Flickr user hectorir

(MoneyWatch) COMMENTARY When Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy last month made remarks widely perceived as anti-gay , there was perhaps inevitable reaction from political, religious, special interest, and corporate groups on all sides of the issue. But the biggest impact of all may have been to Chick-fil-A's brand perception among consumers, which took an immediate beating, according to market research consultancy YouGov.

Ironically, what caused the fast-food chain's reputation to be tarnished so quickly is the same thing that accounts for much business success these days: Technology. Many businesspeople understand in theory that the hardware and software that fuels their activities also can create a firestorm. However, it is instructive to see just how swiftly this can happen with the Internet and social media.

Chick-fil-A's sullied brand

YouGov measures brand strength by conducting consumer polls. The company subtracts negative from positive feedback about a brand and then plots the results on a scale that runs from -100 to +100. A score of 0 would mean equal amounts of positive and negative feedback. A +100 score would be all positive, while a -100 would be all negative.

Most companies that remain in business for an extended period of time have a score between 0 and +100. It is the relative movements, and the comparison of one company to competitors, that becomes interesting. Here is a graph that YouGov created to show the short-term brand score change for Chick-fil-A.

YouGov BrandIndex

The chain had a brand score significantly higher than that of the average big quick-service restaurant (QSR), an industry term for fast-food places. In general, it was trending up from at least the beginning of July. When Cathy made his remarks on July 16, Chick-fil-A's brand perception instantly began to change.

Faster than a speeding bullet into the foot

The speed with which the brouhaha seems to have hurt Chick-fil-A's brand is impressive, considering that after Cathy first made the remarks, they had to be distributed, consumers had to listen, and only then could they alter their opinions. Furthermore, YouGov had to collect enough data on that day to perform the analysis.

The potential for negative feedback and reactions goes well beyond Chick-fil-A. To be sure, there is nothing new about corporate foot-in-mouth disease. But technology amplifies three aspects of such gaffes:

Gaffes are not longer just words on paper that eventually find their way into waste bins. They become immediately accessible in sound and video on news sites, blogs, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. And any untoward comments or other embarrassing details constantly resurface in Web searches, and then get recycled as people forget the incidents happened in the past.

Those who should know better don't

Even executives who should know better misunderstand the potential for a backlash. Take NBC and Twitter. Guy Adams, a journalist for U.K. daily The Independent, had complained about NBC's coverage of the Olympics and had tweeted the email address for the NBC executive responsible. Twitter informed NBC and suggested that the network file a complaint, after which it would suspend the account. Twitter received a huge online backlash, as Jena McGregor wrote at the Washington Post:

Unlike other silly flaps that capture the Twittersphere's microscopic attention span, this one is a real wake-up call for leaders. Even executives at one of social media's giants can miss how their company's actions might force them into an unwelcome spotlight. Wouldn't a company that positions itself as a champion of free speech and one of the key players in the world of social media have guessed that suspending the account of a journalist could cause quite a stir?

Companies are still used to a world where it can take days or even weeks to create a protest or call for a boycott. That simply won't do when communications can swiftly marshal public opinion and deliver a powerful blow to a corporate brand even before executives know what hit them.

[Marc Jellinek]

Lies, damn lies and statistics.

What was YouGov's sample size? Demographic distribution?

I'm not saying that Chick-Fil-A didn't take a hit, but a 30-ish point drop, or off nearly 50% of its high?

I've been working with data for 20 years. I can take any data set and make it say anything I like. Toss in a little survey manipulation and demographic tweating and I can make any data set say anything YOU want it to say.

Or anything that will get it widely quoted and increase your brand awareness. How many people heard of YouGov before this?

I think the point of this story is that technology (Twitter, 24-hour news cycle, Facebook) combined with a tendancy towards schadenfreude means "drama" travels fast. Not exactly a ground breaking conclusion.

This isn't about conservative vs. liberal, Democrat vs. Republican, Big Govt vs. Big Business. It's about pissing into a fan. Technology has made the stream stronger and the blowback reach farther.

I have no particular axe to grind on this issue ( sleep with / love / marry who you want: none of my business; have whatever opinion you like: that's also none of my business )

[eriksherman]

YouGov has been around for about a dozen years. Are there limitations to their methodologies? Oh, probably. I'm never completely comfortable with panel-driven online research, even though it's a very popular approach, for a lot of solid reasons.

However, the interesting thing is not this data as an absolute measure, but as a relative one. If you've been using the same methodology on a regular basis (hence the daily data) with a pretty clear and stable trend and suddenly see a drop, it would indicate that *something* happened.

It's not just that drama travels fast. As you point out, that's hardly worth mentioning. The real issue is that businesses still haven't grasped that in a practical way, even when they're in social media, like Twitter.

[credibility2]

The media played a major part in skewing this brand's reputation because it is aligned with the LGBT agenda and is anti-Christian. If this were a company owned by a Muslim or Jew, whose religions also denounce homosexuality, the media would not have trashed them so recklessly. Ultimately, this is about freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Chick-fil-A was being punished for speaking their beliefs based on their religion's doctrine and only stated they were in support of the traditional definition of marriage and never stated they were anti-gay. Those on the other side were being intolerant and bigoted.

[Jquinn925]

Your free speech ends where my face begins, bro.

Chick-Fil-A, and Dan Cathy, aren't being punished for speaking their beliefs. They're being punishes for donating money to organizations that actively work to infringe on the rights of others.

Stop pretending this is a "free speech" issue. It's not. You're wrong.

[erichsh]

CBS News caught not covering Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day! A CBS News truck was seen leaving the parking lot of a Chick-Fil-A restaurant. When advised that parking spaces were available, the driver said "we thought this was a protest, but this is Appreciation Day so we're not filming it." Shameful!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOLHsrJ4Gak

[eriksherman]

Not sure what an affiliate might have done, but if you look on the Web, you can pretty easily see that CBS News did cover the event.

[L_Dave]

Expressing a view held by a majority of Americans and churches is now a "gaffe"! Just more evidence that you people in the media are out of touch with reality and the silent majority. Yah, after this 'gaffe', Chick-Fil-A will be crying all the way to the bank. Hopefully we can get Obama to weigh in and offer his support to this boycott.

Heck, I'd love to see every democrat man-up and support - as part of this fall's democrat platform - a proposal to ban all businesses owned by Catholics, other Christians, muslims, Orthodox Jews, and anyone else who doesn't march in lockstep to the leftist agenda! Try that.

[eriksherman]

From a business point of view, which is what MoneyWatch covers, something that stirs up a lot of controversy is a gaffe. Or did you not notice the part of the post that looked at NBC and Twitter?

[Firepwr2]

Wait till the sales figures for August 1st come out - the lines out the door at Chick-Fil-A are a harbinger of November....

[Grotenknoble]

Gaffe? The guy spoke his opinion and it was no gaffe. American then stood up for him and did not allow him to be bullied by the pro gay media or the government.

I guess those stats came from polling martians, normal Americans spoke out yesterday.

[eriksherman]

Uh, do you have any thoughts on the business topic in this story? And, looking to fact, yes, Americans supported the chain and its president -- and Americans objected to it. It's the potential conflict between them that the *business* aspect of the story rises.

[ROSSLANDRUM1611]

WHAT ABOUT THEM LINES??!! AND PEOPLE WAITED 2 HRS? WOW- MY BUSINESS COULD USE THAT KIND OF DIP!!

[msgbartlett]

Who says that what Mr. Cathy said was a gaffe? Its his right to state what he believes. What is it about Liberals that says their opinion is the only one that counts? The long lines at every Chick Fil A supporting their Christian Values yesterday speaks volumes about what this country truly believes. All of Erik Sherman's graphs and skewed morals wont change that.

[bluzkat1965]

It is indeed his right to express his beliefs, but not his right to put his employees and stockholders who have stakes in the company on the line as he has. Just because someone works for his company doesn't mean they share his opinion. Mr. Cathy misspoke for his entire company, and I think that is wrong.

[Darthvoice]

Really? Did you go to school, or did you miss the bus? You sound like an insolent little child that doesn't want to share your toys with play mates. You seriously want to act as though conservatives are being victimized when all they do is blame other people for the country's problems and try to pass religious laws that remove people's liberties and freedom?

Any business that publicly supports the oppression of American citizens is committing a gaffe. Anyone that owns a business can tell you that weighing in on issues that are this polarizing in any way can and will hurt your business. A long line is one thing, but let's wait and see what their sales figures look like at the end of the year. In the meantime, drop the victim act and stop acting as though you people have the right to deem others unworthy of their freedoms.

[janicegregg]

Did you think Chick-fil-A was the only one?
The List: Food Companies that Mix Business with Conservative Agendas
http://gigabiting.com/the-list-food-companies-that-mix-business-with-conservative-agendas/

[eriksherman]

No more than I think there are no companies that mix business with liberal agendas. The point in this case isn't about politics. It's about the realities of business.

[Firepwr2]

Compared to the endless stream of liberal propaganda that is inserted in just about every major TV program, conservatives are novices at the game...