Being a New Yorker, I did not know about or ever heard the name Chick-fil-A before the corporation’s president Dan Cathy made his public comments opposing same-sex marriage. So, when the opportunity presented itself during a recent trip to LA, I was on the look-out for an actual store. I don’t usually let ideology stand in the way of food, but there was something strange about Chick-fil-A’s corporate presence—it wasn’t bad. In fact, it was rather cheeky.
I guess you can’t tell a fast food chicken dispensary from its logo or advertising campaigns. In addition to Cathy’s obnoxious anti-same sex religious views (which are his business) there is another practice that has earned ire among animal rights advocates and anyone with a heart.
In the name of cheap chicken sandwiches and burgers, millions of birds destined for one of the more than 1,600 Chick-fil-A U.S. outlets spend their time packed in dark, airless warehouses amid their own excrement, manufactured to grow at such unnatural speeds, one has to suspect the effect on humans of the growth hormones being used.
So next time someone like me is taken in by clever design and advertising, its good to wake up and smell the chickens (and the cows and the pigs and the sheep).
For more Steven Heller, check out Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility, one of the many Heller titles available at MyDesignShop.com.