I received this great story from two men
in West Hollywood who saw an injustice at their favorite burger joint, spoke up
about it, and got quick results from a corporation that realized it had cooked
up an insulting poster (see photo, bottom of post).
David A. Lee wrote such a great re-cap
of how he and his partner took action here, I'm just posting his e-mail word for
word:
When West Hollywood-based spouses and screenwriting
team David A. Lee and Daniel Vaillancourt walked by their neighborhood Fatburger
restaurant on Sunday January 14, 2007, they were shocked to see a poster
introducing the company's new Baby Fat Deal in the window. Its tag
line read: "It’s for women, children and the occasional
girly-man."
The pair -- who feel that the homophobic and
misogynistic slogan (made famous by unapologetic California governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger) would be offensive in any city, but especially so in the bastion
of gay pride that is WeHo -- went to Fatburger's corporate web site and lodged a
written complaint. "We basically told them that this ad campaign is an
insult to the LGBT community, and that until it was discontinued we would not
patronize Fatburger," says Lee. Adds Vaillancourt: "That was a hard
promise to make, because Fatburger is our hands-down favorite. But we
meant business."
Lee and Vaillancourt didn't have to stay
away for long. Within 24 hours, the couple received a written apology from the
company, a "thank you" for pointing out the faux-pas, and a promise that every
"girly-man" poster nationwide would immediately be taken
down.
The grassroots activism left a great taste in the men’s
mouths. Not that they’re strangers to causing a commotion. In 2004, Lee (a
former Continental Airlines flight attendant) took on his past employer when it
refused to honor its contractual agreement to provide spousal travel benefits to
Vaillancourt, whom he had married in Vancouver, Canada. The couple
won.
Kudos to David and Daniel for putting their
principles before their appetites, and to Fatburger for taking fast action. Now
that it's all fixed .... mmmm, french fries!
Photo:
David A. Lee
1 comment:
people need to grow up get some back bone this is silly they are acting like first graders no first graders don't act like this so what the man is gay that his business and yes washington was wrong but get over it
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