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Friends of gay people
What do Cracker Barrel, Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts have in common with Wal-Mart, Levi's and American Airlines?
Answer: Gay people either like or despise these companies. A recent Prime Access/PlanetOut.com survey shows that gays, lesbian and transgendered consumers put Starbucks at the top of their list of "gay-friendly" businesses while Cracker Barrel and Dunkin Donuts (along with Wal-Mart) are at the very bottom.
Only 3 percent of gay-people surveyed (vs. about 12 percent of the general population) consider Cracker Barrel and Dunkin Donuts as gay-friendly. Olive Garden, by the way, garners a paltry 7 percent favorable vote.
Starbucks, on the other hand, racked up a 23 percent favorable rating, the highest of any foodservice brand though still well below Apple Computer's 39 percent.
Which leads me to ask: What makes a company gay-friendly, and presumably, more deserving of gay people's business?
Hiring practices play an obvious role. Lebanon, Tenn.-based Cracker Barrel turned off gays long ago after firing a gay worker purportedly because of her sexual orientation. Today, it is hard to imagine a restaurant company doing that, but the perception persists. Somehow, coffeehouses -- with their low-key style, democratic beverage and community focus -- seem precisely the kind of places that embrace all lifestyles.
Of course, marketing to gays (or whatever niche one's after) helps. Years ago, tennis star Martina Navratilova touted the Subaru Forester. In turn, lesbians began driving them.
In 2005 Starbucks printed inspirational words of well-known people on coffee cups, including an author speaking about his homosexuality. That caught the attention of gay people (as no doubt it was supposed to). On the downside, the effort raised the ire of anti-gays. Maybe Starbucks executives figured they went to Dunkin' Donuts.
Friends of gay people
May 14, 2008
What do Cracker Barrel, Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts have in common with Wal-Mart, Levi's and American Airlines?Answer: Gay people either like or despise these companies. A recent Prime Access/PlanetOut.com survey shows that gays, lesbian and transgendered consumers put Starbucks at the top of their list of "gay-friendly" businesses while Cracker Barrel and Dunkin Donuts (along with Wal-Mart) are at the very bottom.
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| No favorite of gays |
Starbucks, on the other hand, racked up a 23 percent favorable rating, the highest of any foodservice brand though still well below Apple Computer's 39 percent.
Which leads me to ask: What makes a company gay-friendly, and presumably, more deserving of gay people's business?
Hiring practices play an obvious role. Lebanon, Tenn.-based Cracker Barrel turned off gays long ago after firing a gay worker purportedly because of her sexual orientation. Today, it is hard to imagine a restaurant company doing that, but the perception persists. Somehow, coffeehouses -- with their low-key style, democratic beverage and community focus -- seem precisely the kind of places that embrace all lifestyles.
 |
| Gays ahoy! |
In 2005 Starbucks printed inspirational words of well-known people on coffee cups, including an author speaking about his homosexuality. That caught the attention of gay people (as no doubt it was supposed to). On the downside, the effort raised the ire of anti-gays. Maybe Starbucks executives figured they went to Dunkin' Donuts.
Posted by David Farkas on May 14, 2008 | Comments (2)
May 15, 2008
In response to: Friends of gay people
Orrick Nepomuceno commented:
In response to: Friends of gay people
Orrick Nepomuceno commented:
The gay community can be a strongly loyal following and one that should not be ignored. Companies like Apple and Starbucks have that "cool" factor built in that someone like a Cracker Barrel simply will never have. Plus, how is a company with the name "cracker" in suppose to garner any support of diversity? By the way, I am not gay....not that there is anything wrong with that!
May 16, 2008
In response to: Friends of gay people
Mark M commented:
In response to: Friends of gay people
Mark M commented:
Lets just hope that times they are a changeing!
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