Chick-fil-A's Reputation Crumbles

Companies and Brands

Published: June 25, 2024 6:40 am

24/7 Insights

Chick-fil-A slipped in the latest Axios Harris company reputation ranking.
Has the chicken fast-food chain become “woke”?

Chick-fil-A, the chicken fast-food chain, often scores well on quality surveys. It is usually ranked first in the American Customer Satisfaction Index restaurant rating. However, a new study of corporate reputations found that Chick-fil-A’s rating collapsed.

In the Axios Harris 100 reputation ranking for 2024. Chick-fil-A fell 16 positions to 21st place. That puts it between IBM and PepsiCo.

What happened? A closer look at the Axios data shows that the company got an exceptionally low rating for “citizenship.” Moreover, its reputations for “character” and “trust” fell from their all-time highs in the study.

It is difficult to say if individual incidents are the sole reason for reputation changes. In Chick-fil-A’s case, probably not. Recently, it lost a $4.4 million suit over delivery fees. The anti-LGBTQ controversies that were troubling are old. CNN mentioned about the fast-food company: “It joins a growing list of companies that right-wing media and conservatives on social platforms have chastised for so-called ‘woke’ marketing.”

None of these reasons seems sufficient for Chick-fil-A’s showing. Plus, the Axios Harris poll is fickle. The reputation of Fidelity Investments rose 26 places to the third spot of the 100. Kohl’s fell 21 places to the 66th position.

Suffice it to say, no company wants its reputation to be questioned in public.

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