Friday's Feature: "The Cows"

July 11, 2008 "Cow Appreciation Day" at Chick-fil-A!

Today if you dress up like a cow from head-to-toe and go into a Chick-fil-A, you receive a free combo meal. (Above are two willing participants who enjoyed their free Chick-fil-A sandwiches, waffle fries, and drinks.) If you only wear the cow head piece, you receive a free entree. "Cow customers" are greeted by enthusiastic Chick-fil-A employess (also adorned in cow-spotted headbands and shirts) that cheer and ring cow bells to welcome "cow customers" as they enter the restaurant. "Cow Appreciation Day" is just one of many successful Chick-fil-A advertising promotions.

So, you are probably wondering how this ties into Kazakhstan. This brought to mind a day from our trip to Kazakhstan in September 2007; the day we met the English teacher, Ludmilla S. at the Regional Boarding School Orphanage in Petropavlovsk. It is called the "Regional Boarding School Orphanage", because the children live there as well as attend school there.

One day Laura (Antares Foundation president) and I were given a tour of some of the orphanage classes in the school section of the orphanage. One was the English class. After introducing us to the class, and asking Laura to speak to the class in English so the students could hear a "native" English speaker, Ludmilla told us that she had visited the USA in 2003 and made a day trip to Atlanta while there. We asked her what she thought of Atlanta. We expected her to say something about all the roads and the traffic. Her response startled us.

Ludmilla stated that she enjoyed her visit to Atlanta, and what she found most surprising and memorable about Atlanta was "all the cows". Laura and I looked at each other in a puzzled manner; both wondering silently if she was thinking of some other place she may have visited in the US.

"Cows?", we asked.

"Yes," she replied, "it was very surprsing to see cows everywhere we went in Atlanta." Then when she continued and said that some were even "dressed in costumes"; I KNEW the cows she meant! The Chick-fil-A Cows from their "Eet Mor Chikin" advertising campaign! Up until that point we thought she had been referring to live cows!

As Chick-fil-A is one of my favorite places to eat, and I know some wonderful people who work there, I just happened to have stuck in my backpack a Chick-fil-A "cow" fan! We presented this to the English teacher and she confirmed with a "yes", that those were the memorable cows she had seen in Atlanta!

Ludmilla, English Teacher in Kazakhstan Orphanage

Holding Chick-fil-A Cow Fan We Presented to Her

Antares Foundation President, Laura R. with English Teacher, Ludmilla S.
(and Chick-fil-A cow fan!)

Notes to Chick-fil-A: Your "cow campaign" is a success, as "the cows" made a memorable impression during a Kazakhstan citizen's visit to Atlanta! If you ever open restaurants in KZ, you may need to switch your mascot there to "horses" as horse meat is the other meat eaten there.

Another interesting fact we learned during our trip and an opportunity to help:

We were told that the president of Kazakhstan recently had told its citizens that there were three important languages for them to learn, Kazak, Russian, and English. As a result, English is now being taught at more levels. The English teacher asked for help to purchase more English books. We hope to get some to her for the next school year. (They are specific books that must be on the "approved list.") If anyone would like to contribute to this purpose, please do so using the PayPal button on the side and include what the funds are designated for, or send a check to the Antares address, and we will be able to purchase a greater quantity of books for her English classes at the orphanage.

For more info about Chick-fil-A, click here:

http://www.chickfila.com/