Eat No Chikin: Chick-fil-A Makes a Very Disappointing Decision
July 12th, 2008 Posted in Grade FHow a small ballerina only wanted to be treated like a cow
Grade: F
Company: Chick-fil-A
Event: “Cow Appreciation Day”
Location: Columbia, MD
Like the Concept
Chick-fil-A had an intriguing promotional campaign yesterday entitled “Cow Appreciation Day” (you may be familiar with their cow-related advertising). My wife found out about the event at our local pool where the event was being promoted. She was told (I am not sure by whom exactly) that our daughter could get a free meal by dressing up as a cow or as a princess. Not having a cow costume handy, my two-year old and another girl from the neighborhood dressed up in ballerina dresses and headed out yesterday afternoon to the local franchise.
Surprise no Chikin for You!
Well, as it turns out, the whole theme of the event was to get people to dress up like cows. Not really a surprise when you think of it but what did really shock me was that the staff at the restaurant flat out refused to give anything to my daughter. I fully realize that the chain could not be expected to give a free meal to everyone that wandered in looking for a freebie but my daughter was all decked out in a ballerina costume and got nothing for it (my wife did actually buy her something). It would been a much better move from a customer relations and customer service perspective to make an exception in this situation. Now, not only do you have a a family that will very much go out of their way to “Eat No Chikin”, but you have a pretty ridiculous story out there about Chick-fil-A disappointing a two-year old in a ballerina dress. Ouch.
2 Responses to “Eat No Chikin: Chick-fil-A Makes a Very Disappointing Decision”
By Mack on Oct 24, 2008
Because you failed to confirm the information, this was somehow Chick-fil-A’s fault? How are they responsible for your assumptions? You are tacty enough to suggest that Chick-fil-A should have covered for your failure to understand their promotion? It sounds more like you are upset because you could not get free food and you are tacty enough to use your child to gain some sympathy for your failure to plan. Its a shame that your daughter was given wrong information by her parent and rather than take responsibility for your error you want to push responsibility on some else.
By Anonymous on Oct 25, 2008
Mack,
Thanks for the comment.
Although you are right that my wife or I could have double checked the promotion details, we were actually given the false information by someone promoting the event. I don’t know if they were an employee of the company or if they were just handing out fliers.
The real point of this is not the free food as the value was only a couple of dollars. What I was trying to point out was that if the staff had handled this in a different manner, the good PR gained (from us talking to friends etc.) was of much greater long term value to the company than the profit on a few nuggets.
Thanks again for the comment and for visiting the blog.
Andrew