Why This Chic-Fil-A Couch Commercial Irritates Me

I’ve seen this Chic-Fil-A commercial a few times now and the more I see it the more irritated I become. At first pass, it’s fine. A dad, a daughter, a helpful Chic-Fil-A employee. But if you break the story down, you’ll probably understand why it’s a tad on the irritating side. Here’s the commercial then scroll down for my take…

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I’ll start with the only positive thing I can extract from this: I applaud the sentiment behind the ad. As consumers, it’s generally a nice thing to be helped by employees of the business we’re trying to do commerce with.

But they must be kidding to think this story is remotely as altruistic as they let on. I have a very hard time believing no one in the drive-through, the employees, or anyone else involved was not just a little PO’d that this man is crying in the drive through, wasting time while people are trying to get their food fast because they have they’re own drama going on. Everyone’s in a rush because it’s lunch time.

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I understand that the employee in the ad wants to help. She’s trying to be encouraging but my guess is that deep down, she’s trying to keep the line moving. She’s thinking, “The faster I can get this weeping father outta here, the better.”

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The ad itself is a little weird, too. A dad FaceTimes his daughter then proceeds to hand the phone to the Chic-Fil-A employee who’s never met this girl in her life. Maybe I’m not very compassionate or social, but if I were that employee I don’t think I could care less about FaceTiming a call with a random guy’s random daughter who I’ve never met and will never be friends with after the random moment her dad came through the drive through at my random Chic-Fil-A in Midlothian, Virginia.

Am I just being insensitive? What am I missing here?

-Out of the Wilderness