Crispy Controversy
Chick-Fil-A and Gay Marriage:
Its hard for anyone to stay out of the debate for marriage equality. Dan Cathy, the president of Chick-Fil-A, recently spoke out against gay marriage this summer. “We are very much supportive of the family–the biblical definition of the family unit,” he told the Baptist Press. With his statement came an influx of demonstrations. Pro-gay marriage advocates started campaigns to protest through simply ordering a free water, or by staging “kiss-ins.” In response, Mike Huckabee organized a “support Chick-Fil-A day,” drawing thousands of customers to support Chick-Fil-A through a food purchase. Although Chick-Fil-A currently stands with its statements on marriage, it has planned to stop donating to anti-gay organizations.
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Publication: The Buffalo News Date: August 3rd, 2012
Cartoonist: Adam Zygolis Location: U.S.
Title: Chick-Fil-A Intolerance Number: 116341
The cartoon pictures a Chick-Fil-A combo meal. The soda has push-ins, but the words on the lid are “intolerance,” “hate,” “bigotry,” and “xenophobia.”
Tone of cartoon:
Framing of sexual minorities: Positive
Framing of equal rights for sexual minorities: Positive
The purpose of this cartoon is to portray Chick-Fil-A as a company that fits the words intolerance, hate, bigotry, and xenophobia. The fact that the company’s president seems it is necessary to go out of his way to state his stance against same-sex marriage, by many seems unnecessary.
Publication: The Ottawa Citizen Date: August 2nd, 2012
Cartoonist: Cameron Cardow Location: Canada
Title: Chick-Fil-A Number: 116302
In this cartoon, a man is shown ordering from Chick-Fil-A. The cashier is reading him a bible verse, and the man is becoming frustrated, exclaiming, “I just want to order a chicken sandwich!”
Tone of cartoon:
Framing of sexual minorities: Positive
Framing of equal rights for sexual minorities: Positive
As the cartoon portrays, we can no longer be simply customers in the commercial industry. Every brand that we choose reflects a belief or an opinion of our own. We might not be preached to at the register, but companies are entering into divisive social topics. In recent months, the commercial industry has been infused with the the gay marriage debate. Companies ranging from Amazon, JCPenny, Microsoft and many more, have released statements in favor of marriage equality, or have even donated to the cause.
Oreo received both an outpouring of support and criticism for this campaign picture posted to their Facebook page. Unfortunately, the cookie is not real, but the statement it has is very real. The fight for marriage rights are not confined to the individual and political forum, but now the commercial industry as well.
This comic portrays the religious influence that caused Chick-Fil-A’s president to speak out against gay marriage. What does marriage have to do with buying a chicken sandwich? Well it used to be that the two were completely unrelated. But as this cartoon shows, religious intolerance is being fed to society at almost every corner of debate. Even though the religious influence in Canada may not be as influential as it is here in the U.S. due to the smaller number of adherents and population, the cartoonist still recognizes the discrimination that takes place in our country.
Publication: Indianapolis Star Date: July 27th, 2012
Cartoonist: Gary Varvel Location: U.S.
Title:N/A Number: N/A
The cartoon shows the Chick-Fil-A cows wearing signs that say “Ferst” “Amen” “Mint” in their classical misspelled fashion.
Tone of cartoon:
Framing of sexual minorities: Negative
Framing of equal rights for sexual minorities: Negative
After a wave of protests against Chick-Fil-A by gay supporters, Mike Huckabee organized a demonstration called “support Chick-Fil-A day.”
Chick-Fil-A saw record lines, as thousands and thousands of people showed up in what they often proclaimed as, “a support of the freedom of speech.” Cartoons like this one try to frame the debate as one between freedom of speech and oppression of speech. The problem with this argument, is that both sides are executing their freedom of speech. Gay marriage supporters have the right to boycott any company they want, and anti gay marriage supporters have the right to organize and patronize any business they want to as well.
Publication: The Augusta Chronicle Date: July 27th, 2012
Cartoonist: Rick McKee Location: U.S.
Title: Chick-Fil-A Solidarity Number: 115960
This cartoon shows three people eating at Chick-Fil-A. One older man is raising a chicken sandwich in the air as his wife tells a younger man, “Eating large number one combo is Harold’s way of showing solidarity.”
Tone of cartoon:
Framing of sexual minorities: Positive
Framing of equal rights for sexual minorities: Positive
The couple in this cartoon is elderly, once again referencing to the older generations generally in favor of same-sex marriage. Other than that, the cartoon portrays how silly the “support Chick-Fil-A day” seems. First off, they are showing their support through eating fast food. Seeing as this is a task that many Americans already do, most don’t have to change anything or do anything particularly stirring. Perhaps that might be one of the reasons that the day had such a big turn out. Now, if the supporters were instead planning on marching down the street in chicken costumes, the same number would not have shown up.
Publication: Universal UClick Date: July 27, 2012
Cartoonist: Glenn McCoy Location: U.S.
Title: N/A Number: N/A
This cartoon shows a man with a sign reading “occupy Chick-Fil-A,” and a megaphone. He is screaming at a man eating a sandwhich, “How can you eat such a hateful sandwich?!” His shirt is labeled P.C. police. The man eating the sandwich is saying, “Why weren’t you clowns picketing the president six months ago when he opposed gay marriage?”
Tone of cartoon:
Framing of sexual minorities: Negative
Framing of equal rights for sexual minorities: Negative
This cartoon is highly controversial and almost a slap in the face to gay rights activists. First off, the cartoonist labels the supporter the “P.C. Police,” standing presumably for “political correct.” Not only does this portray the gay and gay-supporting community as a aggressive and loud-mouthed group, but it asserts that they are trying to control the actions of other citizens.
Next, the fact that the supporter is portrayed with multiple piercings and a shirt too small is extenuating a visual stereotype of what an LGBT man looks like. To many people (namely religious groups) this individual would be dressed immodestly. When media portray a negative stereotype of what gay people “look like” time and time again, it cultivates a personal bias within society. People are more likely to perceive people as being of a certain orientation based simply on their appearance.
Finally, the man eating the chicken sandwich asks why they (the LGBT and supporters) didn’t picket Obama when he was against gay marriage. Perhaps its because he still supported many other rights, including civil unions and anti-hate bills? In fact, before he stated his support of gay marriage, Obama still stated that he supported full civil rights to LGBT couples and supported civil unions granting all of these rights. Furthermore, marriage equality activists did express their opinions and criticisms of Obama’s stance before he “came out” on gay marriage.
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Cartoon Sources:
http://www.caglecartoons.com/viewimage.asp?ID=%7B0D5EEC44-DD82-4FAF-8C49-2FB1795D8672%7D
http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon.aspx?id=565f481c-8855-4421-8da7-ae64ed12b757
http://blogs.indystar.com/varvelblog/2012/07/27/chick-fil-a-free-speech/attachment/072912/
http://www.caglecartoons.com/viewimage.asp?ID={421EE589-02AF-4201-B5B1-5F1092C28183}
Spectrum of Caricatures 