Eat Less Chick-fil-A
The deep-fried eatery, Chick-fil-A, thinks it owns the phrase “eat more” despite the fact that the word “more” does not appear anywhere in their slogan. They proudly display the purposely misspelled slogan, “Eat Mor Chikin,” a plea from cattle who favor the wholesale slaughter of chickens over their own kind.
Bo Muller-Moore, a folk artist in Vermont, has been handed a cease and desist letter from the Chick-fil-A legal team for his use of the phrase “Eat More Kale.” They feel it infringes on their intellectual property and diminishes their brand. To which I say, “Really?” They think that a healthy, nutrient-rich leafy green vegetable diminishes their reputation as a purveyor of artery-clogging, fried chunks of chicken flesh and oil-soaked, sodium-caked potato discs diminishes their brand?
Even if you ignore the obvious fact that Chick-fil-A doesn’t use the word “more” in their slogan, the corporation that wears it’s Christian values on its deep-fried sleeve doesn’t have a case. To my knowledge, my mother came up with the phrase, “eat more.” She used it over and over again to get me to eat healthy foods. “Eat more spinach.” “Eat more carrots.” “Eat more salad.” Never once did she use it to encourage me to eat something as devoid of nutrients as a Chik-fil-A sandwich.
I submit to Chick-fil-A that if anything, they are diminishing the phrase “eat more.” And while we’re at it, they’re not doing Jesus any favors either by doing something as un-Christian as suing some small businessman for using a common phrase in the pursuit of making a buck in order to survive this horrible economy and feed his family.
My advice to Chick-fil-A is to back off. You’re going to rack up legal fees that will likely bury the poor guy and all you’ll get out of it if you win is ownership of a common phrase that no one really associates with your brand and your corporate soul will grow darker in the process. On the other hand, if the “closed on Sundays, praise baby Jesus” reputation you’ve cultivated over the years is just a lot of deep-fried nonsense, then by all means, proceed with love-of-money abandon.
You can read more about Muller-Moore’s battle with Chick-fil-A here: Vt. artist: I’ll fight Chick-fil-A for my kale
BTW – Everyone knows that cows spell “more” with two 0′s and an apostrophe – “moo’r.”
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