Food Fight

A torrent of words has thundered across America over the recent declaration by the CEO of Chick-fil-A that he opposes same-sex marriage, accompanied by coordinated efforts to undermine or to support the company because of its executive’s stance. Both supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage are now focused on consumer support as the way to influence their favored outcome.

I too have chosen on occasion to buy or avoid buying certain products based on my opinion of the particular business. But does it work? Does targeting a company, whether to boost or to boycott, have a noticeable cultural influence?

Andy Crouch explores this topic in Culture Making. His thesis is that since we all contribute to culture, indeed we are all culture makers, every decision we make certainly contributes to the composite of values and practices that make up our shared experience.

But here’s Crouch’s deflating assessment. “The reality of life in a globalized culture is that individual consumers, or even large groups of consumers, can only very rarely consume their way into cultural change.”

If many millions of Americans ate chicken sandwiches daily with the fervency of ancient Israel consuming manna, would this stop the stridency of same-sex marriage proponents? There are too many ifs in the question to lend credence to that strategy. If millions bought from Chick-fil-A day after day, if the media made a news story out of it, if politicians interpreted this chicken frenzy as a tidal wave of support, if there were no effective response from advocates of same-sex marriage, then, sure enough, with an emptier wallet and a tighter waistband the issue could be won.

Last Wednesday the Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day scored pretty big. Many more customers than usual turned out, and the media duly reported it. To those who may have assumed that same-sex marriage is on a steady path to wide acceptance, the buy-in staged at the chicken franchises presented a different message.

More influential than the consumer support, however, may have been the millions of conversations this past week about whether Americans still have the right to voice Christian values in public settings. The courageous, thoughtful voices of Christian believers will carry more weight than targeted purchases.