On Monday, Subway, the second-largest fast food chain in the world, repudiated the action of one of its franchise owners who used the corporate name when contributing $2,500 to the campaign that ultimately banned gay marriage in California.
In a letter to the Subway franchisee in Merced, Calif., the company wrote: “While we understand that as an individual you have a right to your personal beliefs and freedom of association, when you use the Subway trademark it reflects on the entire Subway brand. … Further [the franchise agreement] states that you agree to ‘not use the Trademark in a manner that degrades, diminishes, or detracts from the goodwill of the business associated with the Trademark’ and ‘to promptly change the manner of such use if requested to do so by us.’â€Subway got wind of the franchise agreement violation last Friday from a gay blogger, who found the contribution on a list of ‘Yes on 8’ contributors compiled by the Human Rights Campaign. Mike Rogers, 45, of Blogactive.com threatened to rally a major boycott of Subway sub-shops if his demands weren’t addressed: repudiating the gift, adding ‘sexual orientation and gender identity’ to the company’s nondiscrimination policy and giving an equal gift to the other side.
Logo from Subway.