Is Burger King the woke star of crispy chicken? Or the latest company to cynically co-opt Pride?
Theres a shadow war rippling through America, an all-consuming battle for supremacy waged in our digitized 21st century public spaces, our newspaper headlines and even in the streets of our cities and towns. Im talking, of course, about the Great Fried Chicken Wars. From Popeyes to Wendys, it seems every imaginable corporate chain has put their own spin on a premium chicken sandwich served in an insulated foil bag  an endeavor so successful it has sparked legitimate concern of a national chicken shortage. But, like everything else in American in 2021, politics  namely the steady fight against creeping fascism  has wormed its way into the conversation. And when the culture wars crash into the chicken wars, nobody wins. This month, none other than the self-professed monarch of beef patties, Burger King, launched a national rollout of a new fried chicken sandwich (the noxiously-named ChKing). With its chicken foray coinciding with Pride month, Burger King announced it would donate forty cents per sandwich sold to the Human Rights Campaign, Americas largest LGBTQ civil rights organization. Thus, Burger King found a way to fry two birds with one stove: not only would the marketing campaign bolster its social justice credentials, it also placed itself in stark contrast to the reigning champion of the fried chicken sandwich, Chick-Fil-A, which has often found itself in piping hot PR oil baths for its long history of support for anti-LGBTQ organizations. In 2017, through its foundation, the company donated more than $1.8 million to groups with a history of LGBTQ discrimination; in 2012, founders son and CEO Dan Cathy gave two separate interviews condemning same-sex marriage. In the process, Burger King  a C-tier fast food chain  scored easy press plaudits as the new woke star of crispy chicken. Its regal mascot is sitting perilously close to becoming the most unlikely queer icon since horror movie monster the Babadook. Fried chicken sandwiches and fighting for the continued civil rights of marginalized queer communities are two of the greatest things in life. But a deeper look at the companys prior political donations should serve as yet another reminder that while corporate statements and donations towards queer acceptance and celebration are better than the alternative, we need to be realistic that these efforts are often little more than PR-sanctioned posturing designed to sell sandwiches by patting consumers on their well-intended backs. The National Franchisee Association of Burger King and its affiliated PAC donated to a host of bigoted right-wing politicians, as first reported by independent corporate accountability journalist Judd Legum, and confirmed via Open Secrets, the political-contribution-database hosted by the non-partisan watchdog Center for Responsive Politics. Records show the PAC gave $113,500 during the 2020 election cycle to 31 incumbents of congress who scored zero ratings from HRCs congressional scorecard. It also donated to the campaign of fledgling Republican star and Q-adjacent congresswomen Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.  Of course, to single out either Burger King or Chick-Fil-A, or argue that their semi-independent franchisees should not be conflated with actual corporate stances, is to miss the bird from the flock, so to speak. Because publicly supporting popular social justice campaigns while quietly supporting the very politicians who oppose them is becoming standard operating procedure in corporate America. Keep Your Pride, a campaign waged by watchdog group Corporate Accountability Action, recently tallied 482 donations totaling $324,250 given to anti-LGBTQ politicians between 2015 and 2021 by five self-proclaimed queer-friendly, all-American companies: AT&T, Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, General Motors and NBCUniversal. Its not difficult to understand why this happens. These mega-corporations are as addicted to low-wages and corporate tax breaks as Americans are to refined carbs and highly processed sugars. It only makes sense they prefer the Big Business benefactors often found in the GOP. Look, Im a very gay, very hungry man with very simple needs. Im a reluctant conscientious objector of the Chick-Fil-A because of its bigoted agenda. Virtually all I want in life is a sandwich that can compete its impeccably pickle-brined breaded breast, sans the notes of guilt and shame and terrible self-loathing that greet my tastebuds with each passing bite. Whether or not Burger Kings actions warrant your boycott  and whether or not this entire line of thinking is but a specious conflation of personal responsibility and collectivist politics in the first place  is all in the eye (or stomach) of the beholder. Like just about every other mass consumer product you can find, the sandwich is clearly tainted with a sheen of corporate greed. Like every June, Americas corporate class is reminding us of its true priorities: profits over Pride. Brian Boyle is a freelance writer and editor based in Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter @BrainBoyle.