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Meet the cows behind Chick-fil-A's most successful campaign

Hayley Fitzpatrick   

Meet the cows behind Chick-fil-A's most successful campaign
Retail2 min read

Chick-fil-A

Flickr/Wally Gobetz

A Chick-fil-A statue in Turner Field.

Chick-fil-A's cows are a huge part of the brand. 

The chicken chain introduced cows and the message 'Eat mor Chikin' on a billboard in 1995.

It's been so successful that Chick-fil-A has stuck with the campaign ever since. 

The cow campaign plays off the idea that cows want people to eat more chicken so they will in turn not be eaten. 

The Holstein cows appear on promotional material, including commercials, advertisements, and billboards, holding signs with different variations of the cow's request for customers to eat more chicken. 

The company recently revealed the identities of the four cows that anchored the company's public image for the past 20 years in a video

The cows caretaker, known as Cowboy Phil, has been working for Chick-fil-A for 18-20 years.

Phil explains that the process of teaching the cows tricks for advertisements can sometimes be difficult, but he loves it.

"Most tricks we teach, takes quite a while to do it," he says.

The cows are treated with patience and care and sometimes have to be trained on a daily basis to learn new tricks. This includes something that can seem as simple as sticking their legs out farther than they're used to. The cows are rewarded when they do tricks correctly.

"When we did the parachuting cows, we had like three weeks to get them comfortable," Phil says.

Check out the famous commercial:

One of the cows, a female named Freedom, has been starring in Chick-fil-A commercials for at least 12 years, according to Phil.

Freedom has completed many challenging tasks through her role for Chick-fil-A. 

Phil also cares for a calf named Freckles and two female cows named Molly and Cat among others.

He credits the originality of the cow campaign to its success and continuation over all these years. 

"I think they like the cows because it's so much different...There isn't another commercial, 'Don't eat beef, eat chicken'. The spotted cows- I think they stand out more than just a regular beef cow," Phil says.

Check out the full video below:

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