I have always been somewhat against the use of classic rock in advertising, especially if the artist has been known for their rebelliousness or anti-establishment tendencies. However I believe that Grace Slick off of Jefferson Airplane/ Starship fame has hit on a brilliant idea to overcome that and I am amazed that no one has hit on this before, unless they have and I just never heard about it. The US fast food chain Chick-Fil-A approached Grace to ask for permission to use Starship’s 1987 smash hit “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” in an advertising campaign. Now Chick-Fil-A’s Georgia based owners have a Christian philanthropic foundation known as Winshape that is a big opponent of same-sex marriage. On top of that the company’s Chief Executive, the rather interestingly named, Dan T Cathy has been very critical of supporters of gay rights.
So the very clever Grace Slick has chosen to take the money she receives for use of the song in the Chick-Fil-A campaign and give it to the organisation Lambda Legal. Lambda is a civil rights organisation that helps LGBTQ people and people living with HIV and Aids. They also plan to help any transgender kids impacted by the reversal of the federal policy on toilet usage that this vile so called administration has repealed. Slick is making a wonderful public example of such a bigoted corporate organisation. I would urge any artists who might naturally feel the urge to reject corporate offers like this to follow Grace Slick’s lead and fight back in this way. Sadly this has also brought out the crazy end of the Christian right-wing as a number of on-line trolls have issued death threats to Slick. I would love to hear what you think of all this. Have any of you protested by not eating at Chick-Fil-A?
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 