Chili’s Donating to Planned Parenthood-Outdated!
Summary of eRumor:
Chili’s is donating to Planned Parenthood through a “Give Back” promotion.
The Truth:
An individual Chili’s franchisee organized a promotion that enabled customers to donate 15% of their total bill to Planned Parenthood — but the promotion has since been axed.
The story broke in January 2017 when a social media post by Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky circulated a flier on Facebook about the Chili’s Give Back Progrm benefiting Planned Parenthood:
The flier led to calls for a Chili’s boycott from pro-life supporters. Chili’s quickly responded with a statement (via Fox News) clarify that the Planned Parenthood benefit had been organized by an individual franchisee, and that it had since been canceled in response to “growing feedback and concern” from community members:
At Chili’s, we have a longstanding history and take pride in giving back to unite our local communities together. We recognize every community is unique, and encourage our restaurant managers and franchise partners to support causes that help bring communities together and leave a positive impact on our valued Guests, neighbors, friends and families we serve.
Yesterday, we learned that an independent franchise partner of Chili’s in Indiana and Kentucky made the decision to host a Chili’sGive Back Event on behalf of Planned Parenthood Indiana and Kentucky. While our franchise partner had the best intentions; we have received growing feedback and concern from community members regarding the Give Back Event. This feedback does not reflect Chili’s focus on bringing communities together and the event was never intended to be viewed as a partisan event or political statement, therefore we, along with our franchise partner, have decided to cancel the event.
We will more clearly communicate the focus of Chili’s charitable giving efforts, so that our restaurant managers and franchise partners can feel empowered to support local organizations that bring communities together.
So, social media posts about Chili’s donating to Planned Parenthood were true (for specific locations), but the Chili’s Gives Back Planned Parenthood promotion has since been canceled. That’s why we’re classifying this one as “outdated.”