Chic-Fil-A family values: Mother-Son Date Knight. (No, really.)

[Bucky]

http://io9.com/chick-fil-a-really-wants-you-to-take-your-mom-on-a-medi-482949482

See, you pagans? It's not just Lot and his daughters! Biblical values are gender-role inclusive

[font size="4"]Chick-Fil-A really wants you to take your mom on a medieval date[/font]

Chick-Fil-A, the disturbingly delicious fast food chicken chain and protector of traditional family values, does not approve of things like gay marriage. They do, apparently, approve of sons and their moms dressing up like knights and queens and then going out on dates together, because they just instituted the infinitely disturbing “Date Knight” promotion.

Yes, at 49 of the company's DC-area restaurants (and select other locations), customers are encouraged — actively encouraged — to dress up in medieval garb and go on mother-son dates to Chik-Fil-A, obviously. From the actual press release sent by the actual company:

"During this special medieval-themed evening, moms and their sons are encouraged to spend some time together while they enjoy dinner, great conversation and several special activities. Every Mother-Son pair will also receive a place mat with fun questions and topics to get the conversation started, and a take-home booklet that provides ideas for future dates and questions that both moms and their sons can ask each other.”

[font size="1"]"...and a take-home booklet that provides ideas for future dates and questions that both moms and their sons can ask each other..."[/font]

[tanyev]

1. If you're determined to dress in medieval costume, go find a Renaissance Fair and eat a turkey leg.

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Oedipus wept!

This is wrong on several different levels.

[Raine1967]

10. ... while Atlas Shrugged...

(sorry -- just popped into my head)

[Lifelong Protester]

3. Ugh.

That is all I can say.

[WolverineDG]

4. So this idea is a bit weird

but just what is wrong with encouraging parents & kids to do things together?

[Bucky]

12. Nothing's wrong with what you described.

The oedipal wrapping on the event, from the cosplay to the "date night" framing, along with the corporate manipulation of family dynamics, is almost intentionally disturbing. Anyone who can't see how this would be perceived by the public, or what an awkward framing this would have for any boy over the age of 8 (ads feature older teenage sons) has no business being in marketing.

It's a dud because it actively rubs up against social taboos. The fact that it comes from a sanctimonious Christian outfit is only the icing on a moderately creepy cake.

[BethanyQuartz]

5. Marketing fail!

Do they hire their marketers from within the family I wonder? Because this has all the quality of those local business commercials where a dumpy woman in heavy make-up tries to sell furniture or used cars or outdoor pools with a fixed grin on her face and psychotically cheerful yet wooden inflection. You just know when you see it that she's related to the owner.

[treestar]

6. Strange.

Why the mom? Why not a girl their age they like?

[Bucky]

15. Or if they want to make it about families, why not make it a family night?

Or pitch it as "quality time" with moms and sons (daughters can stay home and scrub the toilet) instead of giving it a dating/fantasy dynamic. There's a dozen ways to re-brand this kind of promotion without taking jabs at social taboos.

For whatever ridiculous reasons, they chose not to. Freaky-deaky.

[LuvNewcastle]

7. A boy's best friend is his mother.

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQLoNOIdVWnX02lRgDC4-4qwOEnGIwDV5HTIQsi8N1UTO-9Dl9foQ

[MindPilot]

8. I will be the first to admit to seeing innuendo where it may not exist because I have a dirty mind.

but the terms MILF and Cougar immediately entered my head.

And given that most "medieval" costumes worn by females involve a lot of upthrusted cleavage, I suspect this is not so much about building the mother-son relationship.

[Bucky]

16. It may not be *intended* innuendo but marketers are hired to catch these things

I'm not sure they aren't specifically toying with taboos here, although the value of doing so eludes me.

[MADem]

9. They can't even get their history right.

The costumes are all wrong! They need Grecian robes!

Perhaps what they were going for is the "Oedipus, Leave Mummy Alone!" Date Nights!



Or maybe they want those "Knights" to set off on a Crusade after eating their chicken sammich, and take back the Holy Land...or something....

[htuttle]

11. squick.

[TwilightGardener]

13. So, so weird.

My sons would rather die.

[ZRT2209]

14. If you need the help of ChickFilA to talk to your child....

[L0oniX]

17. New porn movie ...coming soon. n/t

[hunter]

18. My mom is more the quick tempered Amazon warrior type, not a queen.

As a teenager I was afraid to take her anywhere that might be a problem.

Both my mom and dad would sooner kill their own food than eat at a Chick-Fil-A.

[KG]

19. paging Kirdy Stevens....

[jmowreader]

20. Do lots of Chick-fil-a customers have medieval garb?

Apparently moms and sons dressing up in 21st century clothes is just too weird, but mom dressing like a serving wench and son like the hangman in Blazing Saddles is just fine.

I think a Fifties theme would be more appropriate here. Most guys can pull together a Fifties look with the clothes they have, women can do Fifties pretty easily, and the moral values of CFA are firmly rooted in 1951 so that's covered too.

But this mother-son date night thing...man, this takes the classic Russian insult "go fuck your mother" to a whole new level.

[smirkymonkey]

21. OK. So that's a little weird.

[Voice for Peace]

22. gosh

"Incest is a remarkably frequent theme in medieval literature; it occurs in a wide range of genres, including romances, saints's lives, and exempla. Historically, the Church in the later Middle Ages was very concerned about breaches of the complex laws against incest, which was defined very broadly at the time to cover family relationships outside the nuclear family and also spiritual relationships through baptism. Medieval writers accepted that incestuous desire was a widespread phenomenon among women as well as men." http://books.google.com/books/about/Incest_and_the_Medieval_Imagination.html?id=qfqWgZETHdQC

[Logical]

23. What is wrong with wanting moms and kids to hang out? n-t

[WolverineDG]

24. Because it's chic fil a

if the company sponsoring this activity was identified as a "liberal" one, this would be ok on DU.

[dlwickham]

25. +1

[Bake]

28. Hanging out, sure. "Date night/Knight" ... not so much

It's as creepy as the Father-Daughter Dances some schools have done ...

Bake

[Logical]

31. Some of my best pictures with my now college age girls...

happened at the grade school father/daughter dance. Great memories of those nights.

Only a pervert would think anything was wrong with that.

[Bake]

33. Grade school, sure.

Beyond that, not so much.

And I'm NOT a pervert, I assure you.

Bake

[Niceguy1]

35. father / daughter

Dinner dances are wonderful. My daughters jk-8 school has them and we never miss one.

I think the issue here isnthe politics of the restaurant. ..not the family bonding event.

[itsrobert]

26. Maybe for a 7 year old and his mom

Anything after 7 is a little weird.

[Bucky]

40. The marketing is targeting older teens, if you go by the pictures

Again, family communication is a good thing. Guys who have good relationships with their mothers turn into more responsible citizens, on average. The taboo-tickling marketing of this event is what squicks me out.

[Katashi_itto]

27. That is seriously creepy

[Manifestor_of_Light]

29. Like the purity balls for dad and daughter. Creepy.

With overtones of incest. I am not surprised. Dysfunctional families often have emotional incest, where one of the parents is unavailable so the functioning spouse turns to a child (usually of the opposite sex) to meet their emotional needs for companionship, a person to confide in, etc. It happens a lot and it's rather sick.

I saw this book in a store many years ago and said "Well I'll be damned! This is the relationship I had with my father!"
The Emotional Incest Syndrome: What to do When a Parent's Love Rules Your Life.

http://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Incest-Syndrome-Parents-Rules/dp/055335275X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367102787&sr=1-1&keywords=emotional+incest

[Bucky]

41. Thank you. I liked going to father-daughter dances. Making them into virginity rituals is just tacky

There's at least a discernible psychological manipulation going on with those Purity Balls (talk about your subliminal oxymorons!). Thinking about your dad on a date with a guy you like might well trigger some Pavlovian inhibitors that prevent teen pregnancy. What the Chic-Fil-Aers are going for by romanticizing the mother-son relationship is entirely beyond my grasp.

[Progressive dog]

30. I was thinking just sort of creepy

until I saw the booklet part.
"...and a take-home booklet that provides ideas for future dates and questions that both moms and their sons can ask each other..."
Now that is really creepy.

[Major Nikon]

32. Oedipus, Schmedipus. Any man who loves his mom can't be all bad

My grandmother used to say that and giggle.

[840high]

34. I see nothing wrong with this.

[whistler162]

36. EGads...... what next take your daughter to work?

disgusting!<SARCASM>

[tblue37]

37. Well, Daddy and daughter are probably on their date at the

purity ball, where he places the promise ring on her finger as she promises not to lose her virginity. (I guess she promises him because until he tranfers his property rights in it to her future husband, he has "ownership."

Fundie family values are a bit troubling sometimes.

[Initech]

38. Motherboy!!!!

And no this isn't to be confused with the 80's heavy metal band Motherboy.

[LuvNewcastle]

39. I want to encourage all the guys out there to take

an older woman with you to Chick-Fil A on that day, pretend she's your mother, and make out with her in front of everybody.

[datasuspect]

42. can they take their guns and bibles too?

[JHB]

43. Only if it's siege guns and Catholic bibles

But Father Maynard will be on hand to display the Holy Hand Grenade, with readings from the Book of Araments.

[Ilsa]

44. I'll never call my activities with

my sons "dates". It's just too damn creepy.