Overview
Starbucks Red Holiday Cup Controversy refers to the backlash directed toward the Starbucks coffee company for their 2015 red holiday cup design, which some Christians found offensive for not including traditional Christmas imagery.
Background
On November 1st, 2015, Starbucks[3] unveiled their new solid red holiday cup design (shown below).
On November 5th, Christian vlogger Joshua Feuerstein posted a video to Facebook[1] asking viewers to provide the name “Merry Christmas” to Starbucks baristas and to post the results online with the hashtag “#MerryChristmasStarbucks” (shown below). Within five days, the video gained over 500,000 shares, 178,000 likes and 51,900 comments. The same day, the conservative news site Breitbart[4] published an article titled “War on Christmas: Starbucks Red Cups Are Emblematic of the Christian Cleansing of the West.”
Starbucks REMOVEDCHRISTMAS from their cups because they hate Jesus … SO I PRANKEDTHEM… and they HATE IT!!!! #shareUse #MERRYCHRISTMASSTARBUCKSFollow --> Joshua Feuerstein
Posted by Joshua Feuerstein on Thursday, November 5, 2015
Notable Developments
Starbucks’ Response
On November 8th, Starbucks released a statement[2] about the cup design, claiming it was created to provide a “blank canvas” for customers to doodle on.
On Twitter
On November 9th, Twitter user @JamilahLemieux[5] posted photographs of the Starbucks cup with a cutout of Ben Carson’s Jesus painting pasted on the side (shown below, left). Within 24 hours, the tweet gained over 2,300 likes and 1,800 retweets. Meanwhile, other Twitter users began mocking the backlash in containing the hashtag #ItsJustACup (shown below, middle, right).[6][7]
Also on November 9th, actor Rob Lowe tweeted his disapproval of the design along with the company’s “#RaceTogether” campaign (shown below).[8]
Donald Trump’s Response
During a campaign rally in Illinois on November 9th, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump flippantly proposed a boycott of Starbucks over the cup design:
“I have one of the most successful Starbucks, in Trump Tower. Maybe we should boycott Starbucks. I don’t know. Seriously. I don’t care. By the way: That’s the end of that lease. But who cares? Who cares? Who cares?”
News Media Coverage
On November 9th, CNN broadcast a segment on the cups featuring an interview with Feuerstein, in which he explained his criticism of the cup design (shown below). The following day, the video reached the front page of the /r/cringe[9] subreddit, where it gathered more than 1,300 votes (91% upvoted) and 330 comments within 14 hours. In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the controversy, including CNBC,[10] The New York Times,[11] Forbes[12] and The Atlantic.[13]
Search Interest
External References
[1]Facebook – Joshua Feuerstein
[2]Starbucks – The Story Behind the Design of Starbucks Red Holiday Cups for 2015
[3]Starbucks – Starbucks Holiday Beverages Return with Red Cups
[4]Breitbart – War on Christmas
[5]Twitter – JamilahLemieux
[6]Twitter – @LordCheeses
[7]Twitter – @Right2Liberty
[9]Reddit – Evangelical activist behind the Starbucks Hates Jesus campaign
[10]CNBC– Starbucks holiday red cup brews controversy on social media
[11]The New York Times – Starbuckss Red Holiday Cups Inspire Outcry Online
[12]Forbes – Heres Why The Drama Over Red Holiday Cups Is A Win For Starbucks
[13]The Atlantic – The Inanity of the Starbucks Christmas Cup
