There is something to be said about Starbucks during the holidays. A Gingerbread latte before you hit the mall to finish up your gift shopping instantly fills you with an extra jolt of Christmas Joy, and caffeine. Nothing says “Christmas Time” like the signature red Starbucks cups, which are released mid-November. However, those cups have caused about as much controversy as they have joy. The green cups released immediately after Halloween had people in a tizzy.
“What? How could these be the holiday cups? They’re green!” People flooded the Internet to complain and voice their confusion about the cups. What Starbucks fans failed to realize is that these were not the treasured holiday cups. They were simply the work of a campaign to promote equality and connection amongst us all. Starbucks was always intending to bring the red cups out for the 2016 Holidays. However, during a time of confusion and distress, many angry coffee drinkers took to the internet to voice their anger.
I love the red cups just as much as the next Christmas obsessed girl. (P.S. have you seen this season’s? They’re adorable!) However, when I, like the rest of America, was under the impression that the green cups were here to stay for the holiday season, I was fine with it. After all, nothing says ‘Christmas’ to me like celebrating love and kindness. So I have to ask, have our traditional, commercialized Christmas expectations become more important than promoting diversity and inclusion?
While I can understand the longing for some snowflakes I think the cups hit Christmas right on the head! The design is meant to show how everyone is connected, that we are all equal and deserving of the same respect. After some of the incidents that happen on black friday, I think respect could, and should, be associated with the Christmas season.
I think I am missing something here? How is spreading love and kindess not festive? I know that the holidays are a great time for snapping a pic with your pals while drinking hot cocoa and wearing goofy sweaters, but where did the love go? When did Christmas become so commercialized that people think their coffee cups are more important than creating a safe and inclusive atmosphere for everyone in our society?
Jonah Green, a film director, asked the same question I did. What is so wrong with a green cup? Why is everyone mad that Starbucks chose to promote equality? I was always taught that Christmas is a time of celebration and showing love to those around you. Many people chose to interpret the cups as political propoganda. What I struggle with, is the idea that equality and love can be characterized as politcal matters. The green cups were about showing that everyone is connected and equal. They were not trying to promote one party or the other. I interpreted the cups as meaning that you should treat your profesor with a PhD the same as the janitorial staff who cleans your bathroom. To me, being festive at Christmas time means smiling at strangers and holding the door open for the person behind you, no matter their skin color or economic status. Holding a red cup does not make you any more festive than sipping your Peppermint Mocha from a green cup. I had such a hard time finding this arguement to be one of substance.
So what I have to say is this: Show some love this holiday season. Give that parking spot to the other guy, pick up that blanket the mom of three dropped in the grocery store, compliment the girl you sit next to in Chem but never talk to. Or, here is an idea, pay for the person in line behind you’s coffee, no matter what color the cup that it comes in is.