Burger King Franchisee and Global Warming....

"Earlier this week we were, ahem, relishing the story about how some Burger King restaurants in Tennessee had been displaying signs saying "global warming is baloney".

A journalist working for the Memphis Flyer, a local news weekly, had photographed some of the signs and then approached Burger King's press office for an explanation. It responded by saying the sign's message didn't match the corporation's views on global warming and it said it had asked the franchise owner to take the signs down. End of story."

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/jun/05/burger-king-climate-change-baloney>

I love the fact the franchisee told the corporate toadies to f* off...
Also it seems the English reporter seems surprised that our freedom of speech protects even un-popular speech...

and

:toast:

:toast:

....CORPORATIONS....on FREE SPEECH.....My Days of eating at the KING are over at lease here in the Mid South.

as corporations are legal persons....Of course their "speech" is subject to commerce regulations.
This incident has obviously nothing to do with commerce regulation.

This independent franchisee in my opinion is well within their rights, and would probably win
a court case if the corporate nazis tried to stifle their free speech.

Franchise agreements are all about contract law and nothing about "free speech". They can't even change the color scheme, let alone say something that the franchisor doesn't approve in writing beforehand.

If you think otherwise, you probably haven't gotten the express written consent of Major League Baseball.

Maybe it does let them put this up, maybe it doesnt...

That would mean that the lawyer who wrote the franchise agreement for the franchisor overlooked something -- I don't think so.

in it regulating the signage, advertising, or public displays the franchisee may engage in, or has any clause requiring the franchisee to uphold the good image of Burger King International. I'd be surprised if either wasn't part of his contract, given how tightly controlled most franchises are.

Burger King has an army of lawyers insuring this shit doesn't fly.