Chick-fil-A, like most fast-food companies, is the retail expression of the factory farming industry — an industry whose hideous treatment of animals, vertical integration and rooting in monoculture is the opposite of the diversified family farm so beautifully glorified in “The Jolly Barnyard.” Perhaps worse, as a primary buyer — and, thus financial supporter — of the factory-farmed products, Chick-fil-A is one of the major fast-food players responsible for the demise of “Jolly Barnyard”-esque family farms.
Who would have thought it? The tricks are easy to spot if you know what you're looking for. You might go for this in the grocery store:
...and maybe think you're getting some sort of bucolic greenie pastured cage-free outfit or something. You're more likely getting cage-free this:
Hey, at least they're vegetarian fed! Oh wait, hens aren't vegetarians.
Marketing is clever, which is why I tend to ignore it completely and just go visit the farm. If I can't get to the farm, I check out their website, and let me tell you, it has to be a specific type of site: low-rent, lots of pictures, maybe some misspellings in it. It has to look, in other words, like it was made by people who are too busy farming to worry about a website. If any restaurant or farm can afford to re-issue a Little Golden Book, I tend to take a pass.
No comments:
Post a Comment