Starbucks Red Cups Are Back
On 10th November Starbucks launched its new red cups along with their (let’s face it, way overpriced but still irresistible) Christmas-y flavours, and we all know what that means: the holiday season has begun.
However, these new cups are nothing like the ones that stirred the world’s most absurd controversy last year. If you missed it, here’s a little recap. The 2015 red cups were plain and simple, two-toned red, designed to be inclusive of everyone during the holiday regardless of their religion. But a number of Christians misunderstood the point, and took this as a sign of attack on Christianity or even a “war on Christmas”. Some tried to trick the system by saying that their name was “Merry Christmas”, forcing baristas to write the season’s greetings on the cup, while most people chose to express their confusion over this debate by using the hashtag #JustACup. A more creative bunch decided to show their feelings through art and humour:
It’s highly unlikely that the coffee company made significant losses after their choice of design, in fact they loved the hype – like they say, any publicity is good publicity. Still, their new red cups couldn’t be more Christmas-y: the six different designs, created by customers (who drew on their plain cup last year) include snowy landscapes, Christmas lights, baubles and candy canes. Hopefully even “American evangelist” Joshua Feuerstein – who was one of the people calling for the boycott of Starbucks – can now sleep peacefully.
It’s naive to think that outrage over a cup can only happen once a century. The coffee chain introduced another cup in America in the beginning of November (a limited batch before and not instead of the red ones): a simple, green cup with Shogo Ota’s art on it featuring connected characters drawn with one single line. It tried to represent unity and connectedness during the divisive time of the US presidential elections, but clearly America was not ready for that: the lovely notion was taken as “political brainwashing” by many, as expressed in their angry tweets.
At the end of the day, all I want is to enjoy my Toffe Nut Latte – the design of the container is secondary.
What do you think: is it worth fighting over something as silly as a cup? And which one do you prefer: last year’s ombre look, or the new, festive designs?
Photo sources: adweek.com, twitter.com/S_Gonzalez1 and Google