Now the Berenstain Bears is trying to keep a distance from the Chick-fil-A controversy following the fast-food chain president’s comments on gay marriage.
A statement on the official Berenstain Bears website says its publisher, HarperCollins, spent more than a year developing a campaign to market several of its titles through a kids’ meal promotion scheduled to start in August with the Atlanta-based chicken sandwich chain.
“We were unaware of any controversy involving Chick-fil-A until July 25,” the statement reads. “The Berenstain family does not at this time have control over whether this program proceeds or not. We hope those concerned about this issue will direct their comments toward HarperCollins and Chick-fil-A.”
The husband and wife team, Jan and Stanley Berenstain, created the popular series in 1962. Stanley died in 2005 and Jan died January 2012, and the Berenstain family owns the copyrights to the series.
Requests for comment from HarperCollins were not returned.
Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy told the weekly Biblical Recorder on July 16, “We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives.”
The response from politicians, customers, and other companies was swift. The Jim Henson Company spoke out against Cathy’s homophobic comments on Facebook: “Lisa Henson, our CEO, is personally a strong supporter of gay marriage and has directed us to donate the payment we receive from Chick-fil-A to (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation).” The company said it would no longer be involved with Chick-fil-A’s future marketing campaigns.
Until recently, Muppets finger puppets were distributed as part of Chick-fil-A kids’ meals but were coincidentally removed and replaced with the “Berenstain Bears” books series.
The official statement from the chain said, “Chick-fil-A made the choice to voluntarily withdraw the Jim Henson Kid’s Meal puppets for potential safety concerns for our customers on Thursday, July 19. On July 20, Chick-fil-A was notified of the Jim Henson Company’s decision to no longer partner with us on future endeavors.”
In a radio interview last week, Cathy reiterated his stance on gay marriage, saying it invites “God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes marriage.’ I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about.”
The Chick-fil-A website elaborates on the controversy, saying, “From the day Truett Cathy started the company, he began applying biblically-based principles to managing his business,” like closing on Sundays and donating a percentage of its profits back to the community.
“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…Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.”
The mayors of Boston, Chicago, Washington, DC, and San Francisco have spoken out against Chick-fil-A, with D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray writing several tweets about the chain, including: “Given my longstanding strong support for LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender] rights & marriage equality, I would not support #hatechicken.”
San Francisco May Edwin M. Lee tweeted, “Closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer.”
Conservatives who oppose same-sex marriage took the opportunity to support Chick-fil-A. On Facebook, Sarah Palin posted a photo of herself and her husband, Todd, patronizing the chain with the caption, “Stopped by Chick-fil-A in The Woodlands to support a great business.”
Mike Huckabee, the former Republican Arkansas governor, declared Aug. 1 “Chick-fil-A Appreciation day” on his website. He and Rick Santorum encouraged supporters of the “traditional family unit” to stop by its 1,600 restaurants to show support.
“Too often, those on the left make corporate statements to show support for same sex marriage, abortion, or profanity, but if Christians affirm traditional values, we’re considered homophobic, fundamentalists, hate-mongers, and intolerant,” Huckabee wrote.
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