The National Organization for Marriage is hosting something called “Celebrate Marriage & Family Day” on August 16 for anyone who wants to celebrate inequality. But like any big deal event, they need corporate sponsors to pay for the thing, so they’ve lined up brands like Blount Fine Foods, designer Celldrifter, and … Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons, which signed on to provide free coffee to attendees. Now before you go asking “WTF is a Canadian chain doing in American marriage politics?,” understand that Tim Hortons also says it does not support “religious groups [or] political affiliates.” Which might explain why corporate has since pulled out of NOM’s Rhode Island bash, and is throwing a regional supervisor under the bus for OKing the deal. Isn’t this nice to hear: Corporate sponsors threatened with boycotts for supporting anti-gay organizations.
backtracking
Tim Hortons Hears a WTF: Canadian Coffee Chain Pulls Out of NOM Rhode Island Event
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Republican
I really can’t imagine what possessed anyone to approve it in the first place. Could it be that NOM misrepresented the purpose of this bash when looking for sponsors?
Lance Rockland
They’re celebrating HETEROSEXUAL marriage.
Isn’t that sweet?
Mike
To give Tim’s credit, their response was almost immediate once head office found out about it.
kevin vancouver
just a brief aside, Tim Horton’s is no longer a Canadian owned company, they were part and parcel of an aquisition of and merger with TDL group by Wendy’s International Inc. an American conglomerate back in 1995… why I know that? I shudder to think!
Mike Airhart, TWO
Tim Hortons was sold by Wendy’s to shareholders in 2006. Its operational headquarters is in Ontario.
Pending shareholder approval (expected in September), the chain’s operations will be reincorporated in Canada under the Canada Business Corporations Act.
Some of its major investors are also major investors in Wendy’s, but that’s true of many large rival companies.
B.
Regarding, Mike’s comment, “To give Tim’s credit, their response was almost immediate once head office found out about it,” readers shouldn’t assume a priori that the manager in question is a bad guy as he could have simply screwed up. Sometimes managers are distracted or don’t know all the code words, and the people opposed to same-sex marriages (more specifically, those running these campaigns) often try to spin what they are doing to make it sound positive. With a little distraction or naivety, he might have been tricked without being technically lied to. A slogan like “Celebrate Marriage and Family Day” sounds like a Fourth of July picnic if you don’t know the code words, so he may have just looked at that, the number of people who might attend, and whether it was in an area where they see a chance for more sales.
Jaroslaw
#6 you beat me to it. I was going to say something very similar. Well put.
deoxyribonucleicacid
Seriously, a coffee company has no business branding itself onto a social cause. In fact, corporate sponsorship and not community support is why ther Orgs seem so demeaning to me.
EFf it
strumpetwindsock
@deoxyribonucleicacid:
That sounds good in a perfect world, but are they supposed to go pick money out of the trees? Somebody has to pay for things.
kevin vancouver
@Mike Airhart, TWO: well suck me dry and call me dusty !!! I stand corrected, merci Mike ….
alejandro
:O im realy glad Tim hortons backed out.. i effing love that place!!