Chick-Fil-A Event Analysis: Against Same Gender Union
Chick-Fil-A was founded by Truett Cathy in the year 1967 in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the second biggest chicken seller in the U.S, currently serving in thirty-nine states. Chick-Fil-A makes efforts to be a family eating-place and has well-known religious principles in its operations. The restaurant business was running well until in recent times when the restaurant’s president made some controversial remarks on Gay Marriages. A gay Marriage is a marriage between individuals who are of the same-sex; the marriage is commemorated either in a religious setting or in a secular, civil ceremony. In the late twentieth century, religious marriage rites with no legal acknowledgment became progressively common. Netherlands was the first country to enact a law that allowed marriage between individuals of the same-sex in the year 2001. By late 2015, some European and African countries had permitted couples of the same -sex to marry (Newton, 2010).
Recently, Dan Cathy, President and COO of Chick-Fil-A, revealed his opinions against gay marriages and how the organization has been funding the anti-gay movements. Many individuals were hurt by Cathy’s remarks, particularly those of the LGBT society (Berring, 2012). The remarks triggered campaigns and demonstrations in protest against Chick-Fil-A restaurants. Some of the rallies and movements resulted in the elimination of Chick-Fil-A eating-places situated on college grounds and areas extremely affected by the controversy. U.S political figures (both against and for the movements) spoke out, and some business’ associates severed ties with the restaurant chain. The stakeholders affected include Chick-Fil-A employees, the management, the customers and the whole community. Gay customers of the company were extremely affected by the remarks. Without a solid customer-base, the restaurant would not be capable of functioning.
After analyzing the four normative moral theories, Chick-Fil-A restaurant can be considered unethical in 3 out of 4 of the principles. The first principle assessed is the individualism principle, which states that a moral act is one that upturns a company’s income; if the action is legal, it can offer the organization an opportunity to accrue more money for its shareholders (Desjardians, 2009). In this case, the remarks by the President led to a decrease in sales because of rallies and boycotts conducted against the organization. The organization also lost sales in locations where the restaurants were detached. According to the theory of individualism, Dan Cathy’s actions were not ethical because he lowered the company’s sales, thus lowering the stakeholders’ wealth and the organization’s profits. The second theory is utilitarianism, which focuses on optimizing the happiness of all individuals, including the stakeholders. That controversial decision did not optimize the overall happiness of Chick-Fil-A’s stakeholders. Dan Cathy did not take into consideration the happiness of the stakeholders’ before he went ahead and made his harsh remarks. The restaurant disappointed many individuals by not supporting a movement that gay activists have pushed for a very long time. Overall, the remarks were unethical because Dan Cathy lowered the happiness of his organization’s stakeholders.
The third theory is Kantianism, which focuses on doing what is right because it is right. According to this theory, it is the corporate’s mandate to do good always to its stakeholders (Desjardians, 2009). It also states that the corporation has an obligation to respect individuals, their independence, and any personal differences and desires. Dan Cathy thought of himself only when making those remarks and did not value the organization’s stakeholders when he announced his disagreement with same-sex marriages and equal rights. The restaurant did not respect individuals and their dissimilarities because it was funding anti-gay organizations; these actions were very unprincipled according to the concept of Kantianism. Finally, the virtue theory, which comprises of four key virtues (honesty, courage, temperance and fairness/justice), indicates that the comment portrayed both his positive and negative side (Desjardians, 2009). Dan Cathy displayed courage by going against how the community feels and stating his beliefs to the media. In the corporate world, this courage was wrong because it disappointed many individuals and had a negative impact on business. However, Dan Cathy also displayed honesty in his statement, though that does not mean that his statements were correct/right. Self-control (also known as temperance) was lacking when the unfortunate event occurred because Dan Cathy did not hold back his feelings concerning same-sex marriage. The last value is justice, which involves embracing fair practices. Dan Cathy violated this by judging people’s sexuality unfairly.
For the restaurant to solve this issue, Cathy should issue a special request for forgiveness on behalf of the corporation. Secondly, Chick-Fil-A should stop funding anti-gay movements and cut ties with those organizations. By doing so, Chick-Fil-A will be back on the right path because it would not be offending anybody. The general remarks made by Dan Cathy, Chick-Fil-A president, and the element that the company was funding anti-gay organizations were completely unprincipled. The four normative moral theories indicate that the two events were unethical. In the end, the restaurant was not influenced considerably as fare as the transactions were concerned. The organization experienced disappointments for a short period, and at the time when all the broadcasting faded away, the company nearly made a full come back.
References
Berring, J. (2012). The Prideful, Arrogant President of Chick-Fil-A. Slate. Web. 03 Apr. 2013 http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/08/chick_fil_a_co ntroversy_why_dan_cathys_statements_are_dangerous_.html.
Desjardians, J. (2009). An Introduction to Business Ethics (Ed:4). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Newton, D. E. (2010). Same-sex marriage: A reference handbook. St. Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.
