Rachel Thomas

Comm298P
News Report
13 November 2015
The Starbucks Red Cup Controversy
For the loyal Starbucks customers, a big part of the holiday
season is the unveiling of the Starbucks holiday cups. Much like
Christmas day, the day of the reveal of that years cup is highly
anticipated; and it is the result of a successful public relations
campaign. Every year since 1997, Starbucks has unveiled a new
unique cup for the holiday season. The cups have always featured
Christmas colors, symbols, messages and designs, until this year. This
year, Starbucks revealed an ombre red that fades to cranberry design
with nothing else but the Starbucks logo. Cue the social media
explosion.
Starbucks customers and non-customers had much to say about
the plain red Christmas cup. As usual, the responses varied across a
spectrum of viewpoints. The controversy took off when Joshua
Feurstein, a former television and radio evangelist with more than 1.8
million followers on Facebook, uploaded a video to Facebook that went
viral. The video claimed that Starbucks removed Christmas from their
cups because they hate Jesus. Joshua then asked his viewers to use to
the hash tag #MerryChristmasStarbucks and to ask baristas to write
Merry Christmas instead of names on the cups. That video has over 15
million views.

One public relations model that helps explain how and why the
Starbucks Red Cup Controversy generated the news, is the
introduction of the democratization of information. With the arrival of
the digital age, the traditional model of public relations has
transformed to include the engagement and dialogue that social media
allows for. The democratization of information explains how with
social media, almost anyone can be a publisher and reach millions of
people without the filter of traditional mass media (Cameron 43). That
is exactly how Feurstein got his message out there and blew up social
media. Articles, news segments and discussion of the Starbucks
Christmas cup have been covered by almost all major news
corporations, including CNN, Fox News, CNBC, ABC, USA Today, NBC
News, and the Wall Street Journal.
Starbucks was being slammed for a holiday cup that isnt
Christmas enough, and for removing the winter and Christmas
symbols. So, after the release of Feursteins video and the discussion
that ensued, Starbucks released a statement about the cups.
Starbucks published a blog post to its website that explained the
history of their holiday cup designs and that it was a branding decision
to remain inclusive (Fox News). Starbucks wrote creating a culture of
belonging, inclusion and diversity is one of the core values of
Starbucks and this year we wanted to usher in the holidays with a
purity of design that welcomes all of our stories. (Starbucks).

Starbucks maintains that the design was meant to be a blank canvas

for doodles and for people to write their own story.
After Starbucks release of their statement, the discussion on
social media not only continued, but it extended beyond those
platforms. The controversy extended into the world of politics when
Donald Trump, a presidential candidate, decided to weigh in and say
that maybe we should boycott Starbucks. People then took to social
media using the hash tag #ItsJustACup, as they joined the
conversation but took neither side. Coincidentally, during this time
Dunkin Donuts released a Christmas cup with Christmas symbols and
designs. Then, even Stephen Colbert weighed in as he topped a
Christmas tree with a Starbucks Cup on The Late Show.
In my opinion, Starbucks handled the issue gracefully and
successfully leveraged it to benefit their brand. They didnt merit the
nature of the controversy with a formal statement, but still addressed it
to show that they are listening to their publics. Starbucks knows that
their publics span across a wide range of religions, viewpoints,
demographics and ethnicities. So, their actions and their brand have to
be inclusive to include all publics. They specifically selected the
channel of the blog on their website, rather than a press release as
they didnt ignore the discussion, but they also didnt go into full crisis
mode. They emerged as a winner, as now almost everyone knows that

they have unveiled their new holiday cup, and they are at the center of
discussion.
I do not know whether this was Starbucks public relations plan
all along, or whether they just leveraged the issue, but it is working for
them. The very fact that people care this much about what their
Starbucks cup looks like shows how Starbucks has integrated their
brand into everyday life. People now have an emotional attachment to
the unveiling of the holiday cup, and consider it a part of the holiday
season. If this was intended all along, it was genius. Starbucks used
the holiday cup campaign and its annual timing, to evolve to a plain
red cup. In public relations, a goal is always to keep the energy of your
campaign alive as you build mutually beneficial relationships.
Starbucks kept their publics surprised as they used the strategy of
removing the usual holiday symbols to reinforce their brands values of
inclusiveness and move to the center of discussion. Starbucks just
proved that they are so internationally well known, that they dont
even need words on their cups.

Works Cited
Bowerman, Mary. "#ItsJustACup Mocks Starbucks' Red Cup
Controversy." USA Today. N.p., 11 Nov. 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nationnow/2015/11/11/itsjustacup-mocks-starbucks-red-cupcontroversy/75563876/>.
"Candace Cameron Bure has This to Say About Starbucks' Red Cup
Controversy." Fox News. N.p., 10 Nov. 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/11/10/candace-cameron-burehas-this-to-say-about-starbucks-red-cup-controversy/>.
Feuerstein, Joshua. Starbucks REMOVED CHRISTMAS from their cups
because they hate Jesus. Facebook. N.p., 5 Nov. 2015. Web. 12 Nov.
2015.
<https://www.facebook.com/joshua.feuerstein.5/videos/689569711145
714/>.

"Starbucks holiday red cup brews controversy on social media." CNBC.

N.p., 12 Nov. 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/09/starbucks-holiday-red-cup-brewscontroversy-on-social-media.html>.
"Starbucks' plain red holiday cups stir up controversy." CNN. N.p., 9
Nov. 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.
<http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/08/news/companies/starbucks-redcups-controversy/index.html>.