PageOneQ.com
blogger Mike Rogers put the pressure on fast-food chain
Subway last week after finding on a list compiled by
the Human Rights Campaign that a Subway franchise
owner had donated $2,500 to Yes on 8 -- using the
company's name.
Rogers
immediately reached out to Subway headquarters with three
demands: Repudiate the gift, expand the corporation's
nondiscrimination policy to include sexual orientation
and gender identity, and give an equal donation to the
opposing side.
He got two out of
three.
Subway director
of corporate communications Michele DiNello wrote in an
e-mail to Rogers that not only will the franchise owner who
made the donation be getting an e-mail, but "we
will be sending to our franchisees and developers --
around the world -- the policy regarding political
donations."
The e-mail
reminded franchise owners that "your franchise
agreement prohibits your use of the Subway trademark
as part of your business or corporate name. Further,
it 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.'"
DiNello said that
the franchise owner has requested a refund of his gift
from Yes on 8. She also said that the company is currently
in the process of changing nondiscrimination policy
language.
"The company used
the exact language you gave us," she wrote, referring
to Rogers's request to add "both sexual orientation
and gender identity" to its nondiscrimination policy.
(Ross von Metzke, The Advocate)
