Chick-fil-A, Corporate Responsibility and Civic (and Civil) Engagement

Politicians are not too knee deep in Chick-fil-A's greasy mess and, ultimately, this is a good trend for society. That is, that politicians and the public are voting with their wallet and prioritizing their principles within the private sector as well.

The private sector should be held accountable by the public, and by policymakers, for their business practices. More civic engagement in the corporate sector is a good thing. Ideally, however, the push by the public is for corporate policies that "do no harm" and are socially and environmentally responsible.

Unfortunately, in this case, Chick-fil-A fails the do-no-harm test by speaking and acting in a way that's injurious to a significant segment of society. Yet, they claim on their website that 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". This is hardly happening here.

There's an element of hypocrisy here too. Some of this same conservative constituency lambasted another private sector group for speaking their mind on a particular political issue, saying that it outside their jurisdiction as an private entity. To whom am I referring? The Dixie Chicks, of course – a corporate entity that also happened to be a music group – who chose to speak out against the Iraq war and got boycotted for doing so.

We all want an America where free speech is protected and promoted. What is problematic with Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy's stance is that it demonizes and denigrates already marginalized Americans. This is hardly corporate responsibility, nor is it consistent with Chick-fil-A's culture and service tradition. Time to do no harm, folks, or at least less harm at this point.