‘The Holidays Mean Something Different to Everyone’ Starbucks Says
Starting in 1997 Starbucks, for the Holiday season, began switching its regular coffee cups to Holiday-themed red-colored cups. Over the past few years some extremist evangelical Christians who believe they have the right to direct Starbucks’ marketing campaigns have responded in fury, demanding a return to Starbucks’ more Christmas-themed cups of previous years.
The Seattle-based international coffee purveyor in 2008, for example, used snowflakes and turtledoves to send its Holiday messages of cheer. In 2009, the cups looked almost like Christmas trees, with Holiday messages on ornaments. In 2010, carolers and snowflakes. 2011, ice skaters and sledders. 2012, a snowman. 2013, the cups were red and gold with Christmas tree ornaments. In 2014, varying shades of red to imply snowflakes.
And then, it happened.
In 2015, Starbucks went solid red, inspiring this evangelical former pastor and Facebook attention-seeker to proclaim that Starbucks “hates Jesus.” Remember? The far right went ballistic. Starbucks responded by saying the red cups allowed customers to write or draw their own messages.
Last year, Starbucks opted for 13 different designs created by customers around the world. And we didn’t hear a peep.
But we will this year.
Starbucks has not only ditched the red cups entirely, last week they released an ad that features a multicultural couple and even a same-sex couple about to kiss.
It’s a beautiful ad that’s sure to infuriate the religious right.
“Starbucks has launched a holiday ad featuring two women about to kiss, and an older white woman holding hands in a park with a man wearing a taqiyah, a type of skull cap often worn by Muslims,” CNBC reports.
“The holidays mean something different to everyone,” states text during the 30-second animated ad, which features a hand-drawn white dove flying towards the couple in the park, a young woman talking to an elderly relative via her laptop, people of different races decorating a Christmas tree and two women about to kiss as fireworks appear.
For Allen Adamson, founder and CEO of BrandSimple Consulting, using animation allows Starbucks to have control of its message. “They are leaning in to the issue of this country needs to come together across all lines and by making it an animation it’s a little softer and potentially less polarizing,” he told CNBC by phone.
To prep their customers, on Nov. 1 Starbucks posted a short animated video explaining the newest cups:
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