Starbucks inadvertently causes a commotion

The phrase ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ may primarily be associated with comic books and Spider Man’s origin, but the words attributed to Benjamin Parker should also be taken on board by many a company – especially those whose business it is to serve and employ a wide range of people from vastly different cultural and social backgrounds.

Some customers of Starbucks with an Armenian background have been up in arms recently after taking offence to some newly installed interior artwork. Visible in a number of locations across the United States, a poster depicted a group of women dressed in traditional Armenian attire standing underneath a depiction of the Turkish flag. Safe to say, the reaction wasn’t positive.

The Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region went on the attack straight away and launched a social media campaign in a bid to get people to complain, promoting #boycottstarbucks in the process.

Asbarez, a long-standing Armenian-American newspaper based in California, took up the case too, asking why Starbucks would knowingly promote a country that “has jailed demonstrators for reform”, “whose president has called for legislation to categorize women as second class citizens” and “continues to deny the Armenian Genocide.”

In Starbucks’ defence they were on the case and quickly moved to issue an apology. “Serving as a place for the community to connect is core to our business and we strive to be locally relevant in all of our stores,” a statement read.

“We missed the mark here and we apologize for upsetting our customers and the community. We have removed this art…and are working to make this right.”

The announcement also referenced the fact that they were looking to ensure that the offending poster wouldn’t be present in any other American stores.

We’re sure that this wasn’t a deliberate ploy, but that just goes to show how careful you need to be in your marketing strategies if you’re a huge multinational company. Mistakes can be made; luckily this one was rectified very quickly.

photo: Dennis Hamilton (Creative Commons)