Some Chick-Fil-A social media marketer just lost their job. The embattled fast food chain, which is getting negative press and losing partnerships over its opposition to gay rights, was further embarrassed yesterday when a Facebook account defending the company was revealed to be fake.

The debate dealt with Chick-Fil-A’s decision to pull Jim Henson puppet toys from kids’ meals after the Jim Henson Company severed ties with the restaurant over the gay rights issue. However, Chick-Fil-A claimed that it had removed the toys over reports that some children were “getting their fingers stuck” in the puppets.

When a Facebook user named Chris accused Chick-Fil-A of lying on their Facebook page, another user named Abby Farle responded that the toys had been pulled “weeks before” any of the controversy. She ended her comment with the commonly cited Bible verse, “John 3:16″.

But another poster uncovered that Abby Farle’s profile picture was in fact from a stock photo website. Also, “she” had only signed up for Facebook eight hours earlier (making her the only teen in the US who didn’t already have a profile), so everyone began to think that Abby Farle was actually a creation of the Chick-Fil-A public relations department.

Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any verification that the Facebook conversation is real, and a quick search for “Abby Farle” didn’t turn up any Facebook profile (although whether it was real or not, it probably would have been taken down once the attention started piling on).

I can confirm that the photo comes from ShutterStock.com:

If this was a crazy PR stunt gone wrong, let that be a lesson to all companies: not only is it a stupid and unethical move, but the hivemind of the internet can figure this stuff out pretty quickly.

What do you think of the Chick-Fil-A stunt?

[via Gizmodo]

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