In a recent interview with Christian newspaper Biblical Recorder, Dan Cathy, the president of American fast-food chain Chick-fil-A, spoke openly of his opposition to same-sex marriage.

Gay marriage supporters quickly called for a boycott of the privately-owned company’s 1,600 restaurants around the country.

If brand managers had their way, big companies would never take sides, a marketing expert tells Bloomberg Businessweek.

“If you’re a big publicly held company, you don’t want to piss off anybody on any side of any issue,” says Claudia Caplan, the chief marketing officer of RP3 Agency. “You want to be Switzerland.”

Read more here.