Twitter
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Newsvine
Google
Yahoo
Technorati'Global Warming is Baloney' Signs Put the Heat on Burger King
A row between the fast food giant Burger King and one of its major franchise owners has erupted over roadside signs proclaiming "global warming is baloney".
![[]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/bkbaloney.jpg "bkbaloney.jpg")
The franchisee, a Memphis-based company called the Mirabile Investment Corporation (MIC) that owns more than 40 Burger Kings across Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi, has described Burger King as acting "kinda like cockroaches" over the controversy. MIC says it does not believe Burger King has the authority to make it take the signs down.
The dispute began to sizzle last week, when a local newspaper reporter in Memphis, Tennessee, noticed the signs outside two restaurants in the city and contacted the corporation to establish if the message represented its official viewpoint. Burger King's headquarters in Miami said it did not, adding that it had ordered MIC to take the signs down.
But a few days later readers of the Memphis paper said they had seen about a dozen Burger King restaurants across the state displaying the signs and that some had yet to be taken down. Media attempts to contact MIC to establish why it was taking an apparently defiant stance were rebuffed, but the Guardian managed to grill MIC's marketing president, John McNelis.
"I would think [Burger King] would run from any form of controversy kinda like cockroaches when the lights get turned on," said Mr McNelis. "I'm not aware of any direction that they gave the franchisee and I don't think they have the authority to do it."
McNelis added: "The [restaurant] management team can put the message up there if they want to. It is private property and here in the US we do have some rights. Notwithstanding a franchise agreement, I could load a Brinks vehicle with [rights] I've got so many of them. By the time the Burger King lawyers work out how to make that stick we'd be in the year 2020."
He continued: "Burger King can bluster all they want about what they can tell the franchisee to do, but we have free-speech rights in this country so I don't think there's any concerns."
The Guardian sent a transcript of the interview to Susan Robison, Burger King's vice-president of corporate communications.
She responded: "The statement that was posted on several restaurants' reader boards in the Memphis area, and the view expressed by the franchisee on this issue does not reflect Burger King Corp's opinion ... BKC has guidelines for signage used by franchisees [which] were not followed. We have asked the franchisee to remove the signage and have been told that the franchisee will comply."
46 Comments so far
Show AllI think Jesus said something like "love your enemies, bless those that curse you".......I wonder what would happen if I put up a sign at my place of business that said, "I love you Osama bin Laden and may God bless you"??????
BUT, if I did put up such a sign, it would have to read, "I love you both Bush and Cheney and may God both bless and have mercy on you"
As for the Burger King's act of expression, "bologna" is not spelled 'baloney'-an act reminiscent of the generally uneducated working class of America who supply & necessitate the backbone of the American labor force, however they ought NOT to be criticized by the Green Elite who are so disturbed by the presence of an opinion opposite their own. Do you think a PhD put up those letters?
Give them a break. Is encouraging debate an American faux pas these days? I haven't liked where this country has been going for the last 8 years at all, but if our future is to be as ignorant to expression as expression is to science (can be) than I'll be damned as well as you and your families. Chill dudes.
I'd live in a heated planet with freedom before a fascist one with no respect to expression.
Global Warming Values seem ALWAYS a function of economic determinism! I drive a motorhome I rebuke the thought, I work for Exxon it's a farce, I ride a bike I know it's real, I work for the mic it's bs, I'm a prof a nurse a clerk I'm ambivalent...
Like the rich favoring war-of course they do, that is how they got rich.
The poor favoring redistribution of wealth? Well....not if you call it socialism, a scary word they've learned is ungood.
i grew up on Gino Giants and "flame broiled"...
but now... 'cept for the egg-mcmuffin... NO cheese...
i only use these places as pay toilets... i'll still buy a cup of coffee... then use the restroom...
and it's SO much cheaper to eat at home... 2 lbs of ground beef... some veggies... milk... bread... and some fixins can feed a family of four one meal...
so for about 20 bucks... that's 5 bucks a head for one meal... at home... in your own environs... plus... no car... no hassles with dumbass at the counter with gold chains and cell phones who cant make change w/o lookin' at the register to tell them what it is...
but... what T F... paying a mortgage... taxes... insurance... utilities... maintenance... et al.. people still think it's cheaper to eat out...
global warming... darwinism... survival of the fittest... that's how it works... we had our chance... whatever rises up out of the waste pools of this civilization... will have there's...
There's an opportunity here for the public to make a statement in support of Global Warming. Burger King is a global company, with global customers. If those customers just stopped eating at Burger King to show their outrage at these sentiments being expressed by a franchisee, the company would be forced to come out with some VERY pro-Warming public relations messages to overcome the damage.
Boycott Burger King.
Send a message to corporate America that enough is enough. Global Warming is very close to a tipping point at which our ability to control its effects will be greatly reduced. And our corporations are leading the way into this new destroyed landscape. Just stop eating at Burger King until their management makes it VERY plain that they take this crisis seriously. That's a simple message the global consumer can send to Burger King and, by extension, to all companies, everywhere.
Now, I don't doubt that in some places, like the American South, such a boycott would backfire, and Burger King would get MORE customers as a backlash. But the point is that as a global corporation, Burger King must deal with the GLOBAL customer: and the rest of the world is, generally, MUCH more concerned about Global Warming than the U.S. is. The sentiments being expressed in Tennessee are, in fact, very prevalent in the United States. And the United States is the number one reason NOTHING is being done about Global Warming. This is an opportunity for the Global customer to stand up and say something to America about where that attitude leads. And taking that stand is as simple as improving your diet.
I'm not sure why anyone who is aware of climate change (properly called) would be spending money at a place like Burger King anyway. I would hope they'd be eating vegetarian/flexitarian and buying locally.
This sacred land it has/ Seen many hands, it has
Wealth and gold yet it is/ Fragile and old and all the
Greedy souls just don't care to know/ Of the changes it will confront
So speak out loud of the/ Things you are proud
And if you love this coast/ Keep it clean as it evolves
Cos the way that it shines/ May just dwindle with time
With the changes it will confront
You know some people/ They just wont understand
They just wont understand these things/ Thank you for your message
But I don't understand/ No, I just wont understand these things
Xavier Rudd
We should face the fact that EATING at Burger King does more to damage the climate than WRITING on their signs. While I maintain my carnivorous lifestyle, I'm aware of the damage cattle do to forested regions and am trying to go vegetarian at least partially.
"Burger King can bluster all they want about what they can tell the franchisee to do, but we have free-speech rights in this country so I don't think there's any concerns."
The free speech rights in this country have to do GOVERNMENT censorship, not private censorship. What the franchise can or cannot say is entirely up to the contractual relationship between the franchisee and franchisor. The person quoted is ignorant.
Denialism *is* the psudeoscientific method.
http://www.users.bigpond.com/pmurray
http://www.paulmurray.id.au/ageofworms
climate change is cool.
Shocking to see this in the culturally refined, intellectually fertile fields of The South. Rigorous introspection, personal integrity, and a sense of inclusive community are what is Real. And, well reflected in their worship of a drug addict God who wed a child, and fond memory of the "good old days," 1000's of lynchings. The black man burned alive at the end of the rope while These Good People chewed 'backy, guffawed and fussed with their overalls.
California is cursed with a fascist governor and much wrong, but we accept Global Warming....Snow melt in the Sierras being nada. Let's give the south to the Palestinians, send the rednecks to Gaza, and tell Israel to holocaust their asses.
azjoe,
When I was visiting a quarry, run by a large construction contractor near Santa Cruz - as part of an accident investigation. The subject of global warming came up, as it was an unusually hot day. All the guys at the quarry site thought global warming was nonsense. Other topics came up and they seem to be just the usual Limbaugh-listening types to me.
I think that the California reputation for being a "liberal" state is somewhat exaggerated.
Btw, also had a similar experience in Vermont too. So much for the Vermont stereotype.
From you ridiculous stereotype, I suspect that you haven't ever actually been in a southern state?
yunzer, hi. You are 100% correct that California is riddled with ignorance, racism and worse. But, also, it is home to sporadic fits of forward thinking.
Respectfully, I've lived in the south, three years. And driven a truck through it so I saw it up close and personal. Some of the nicest people in the US, in my experience, I ran into in Chattanooga. But then over the hill is Memphis, down is Biloxi, find Pope County Arkansas, escape, make it to Louisiana but if you're black stare into dead eyes that don't stare back.
I'm a marijuana smoking pro-life long hair the JokeSheriff tried to put into Raiford, please pardon my animus. Southern hospitality is real though, and the best American writers come from the south. And, thank you Sun and Moon, the Blues-born in the south, progenitor of R&R. yunzer, If you are ever in Northern California, I'll cook you dinner, hospitality california style, it does exist, peacejoe.
Azjoe, you are a bad man, you made me laugh, thanks. Personally, I kind of like it that some redneck has gone ballistic and told the "Big Corporation" to go fuck itself. It's on the same level as "putting the Mickey" up a Homeowner's Association, and I suspect you may know what lovely little authoritarians they can be...What DOES strike me on this is a salient point.
The kiddie raping, slave holding, richfilth animals we call the "Founding Daddies" WANTED the Roman Slave Republic before the Gracchi Bros (Tiberius lived to be 35 and Gaius lived to 38 before being assassinated). America was intended to be a Slave Empire where only "Landed" men like themselves could vote and "Speak". Now we are. As our Supreme Court has said, "Money is Speech and is protected under the Constitution". As Corporations are now the only Equals in this Slave Empire and money is speech, it is appropriate the (rich) individuals should make themselves into Corporations so they can exercise their rights of "Free Speech". This is where "The Law" is intended to mediate - disputes between richfilth slave holding animals and the "The Law" is simple, whoever has the most money, whoever can hold out the longest, WINS. Free Enterprise and Democracy all rolled up into a great big "E Pluribus Unum".
Free Show: Watch the fat animals beat each other with goat bladders full of piss.
The global warming/climate issues will be decided in other venues. They will not be resolved because resolution requires decentralization of power grids along renewable lines and that destroys the monopoly control of energy in a context of hydraulic despotism...Obey or we shut off the lights, water, food...simple stuff but ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to maintaining Authoritarian Patriarchy which is the foundation for Male Supremacy and Gender Slavery - and there are no more fundamental questions for our species than these...for these will spell our doom if we fail. Doom = Death of the entire species...as you said, a society based on Inclusion.
Marx referred to history up to his time (and through to ours) as "Pre-Human". It was pre-human because the decisions of "life and death" were made through the values of "market" and "profit". Not human. I say it a little simpler, "Humans are not Food." That is language that cannibals can understand even though they still reject the concept and like their "long pig" with hot sauce and curry now. This is what passes for "Change" among the savages.
luckylefty, -enjoyed your post on the gm thread-
Comida? Moi? Well....it is true that sharks, hyenas, adders and runaway cancers, voratious for blood, meat and money are the machine, run it. While wage-slaves and their slaves in turn are eaten alive and consumed, the remains poured into holes.
ll, ya know what "they," mean by Justice? Just Us. bs
Which is exactly what Justice means to us. Just US. true
Marx was a smart guy. Who called america's descent to a t. And who spelled out the endgame. Revolution. Hope I'm around. hehehe.
There's a reason its called the American Balkans
Fast food will kill your brain.
people on hunger strike - can they eat "fast" food?
I think the scientifically correct slogan of self-incrimination for Burger King would be:
"Global Warming is Bull Shit" (they don't sell anything with actual baloney in it). But I don't get why anyone is surprised by the lies on these signs. The chain has been hawking Whoppers for decades now . . .
Amazing. The Onion DIDN'T do this one.
The manufacturing of bologna from industrial livestock practices like CFU's & feed lots and generating thousands of football field size cesspools of swine feces and urine is also contributing to global climate change...
So, in a literal way, the sign is correct...
Apparently the signs have done nothing to spark discussion about global warming; at least not here.
The franchisee will very likely find that the contract he signed with Burger King restricts his freedom to spout off on controversial topics.
The freedom of speech we enjoy under the 1st Amendment only affects the federal government. It says: "Congress shall make no law restricting" freedom of speech, press or assembly.
The Constitution is the legal document that defines the basic structure, powers and limitations of the federal government. It has nothing to do with person to person relationships. One person's rights end where another's rights begin.
Global climate change denial is baloney!
Bingo. I ate at BK once 20 years ago. The stuff tastes like watered-down dirt.
Oh, you should try it again. They've improved the phony chemicals so much in the past twenty years. You can hardly tell it from real hamburgers.
Actually I think the big fried chicken sandwiches there taste pretty good. But mostly because of all the salt. I don't eat crap like that anymore though...the only fast food I eat now is from the cafe at my workplace which actually serves real food (they even roast a turkey daily and sell sandwiches of carved meat from it), and occasionally Chipotle and Five Guys, they have much better quality food.
Global warming is real, and wether we have the political will to do anything about it remains to be seen. You can ignore it and be part of the problem instead of being part of the solution. The consequences will be born by you, Eric, and won't you feel stupid when you find out you were wrong to ignore reality. But as Forrest Gump says, "Stupid is as stupid does."
Let them have their signs and fight over them, too. It will only draw more attention to the issue.
This corporate pissing match between Burger King and one of its' franchisees is reflective of how the USA's culture wars (global warming is one of them) has spread to the business world. Mirabile Investment Corporation is very much a red state, Retro-America entity, while Burger King Holdings (based in Miami, FL.) is based in Metro-America (and who's chief executive is a well known global warming activist from the business community). This is merely the first of many conflicts of this sort to come.
Sooo... MIC is muck?
LOL!
Next up they'll be offering polar bear burgers.
I thought at first the pic might be a spoof done with a freebie online generator such as at:
www.says-it.com
Burger King supports right wing radio locally.
Boycott Burger King.
Improve your health.
Save money.
Burger King is a nasty franchise that caters to ignorance. They're all the same, McDonald's, Wendy's, etc...giant franchises that get in your way everywhere you go, making people too lazy to cook real food, and us with the garbage they serve.
Good points.
It's hard to tell whether it's a case of life imitating art, or vise-versa. While we definitely are what we eat, most of us don't have a clue as to what we're eating. The food industry and the government industry collude to keep us ignorant of the value of good, sustainably raised, local food as they keep us ignorant of just what is in our food and where it comes from. Worse, they collude to keep us hooked on junk food that is killing us, and it's not just at Burger King and McDonald's.
FMI, I highly recommend watching this short piece from NOW:
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/523/index.html. Even the "foodies" amongst us will have their eyes opened.
Ah, to watch corporations hang themselves with their own rope.
Actually, they're just organizing the working class against the liberal (coordinatorist) left, which they've been doing quite effectively now since the days of Spiro Agnew.
The left fails not because of anything the right does; the left is totally responsible for its shortcomings, which it still has zero interest in fixing.
--
Eric Patton
Cincinnati, OH
ebpatton@yahoo.com
Don't mistake the Democrats for the left. They are paid to be in the center to the center right. And don't blame the REAL left because our ideas never get a fair trial. "The problem is Capitalism.... The solution is Socialism."
Money talks; bullshit walks.
"The problem is Capitalism.... The solution is Socialism."
...The devil is MEDIA CONTROL...that's what keeps us so stupid that corporations can have their way with us...that's what makes our politicians kiss butt and protect a foreign entity instead of representing the interests of our country.
How did you know I have not watched TV since 1974?
random.
Pot. Kettle. Black.
--
Eric Patton
Cincinnati, OH
ebpatton@yahoo.com
Apparently global warming is flame-broiled rather the fried.
Yeah, and the "stuff" they put in those burgers is filet mignon.