Starbucks Social Media Fail

             I’ve learned that it is so incredibly important to have a presence on social media and lacking to post regularly can be detrimental to a company. Starbucks, who is normally very good about posting and engaging with consumers fell quite in a time where they could have said much.

In 2015 the world was turned upside down when Starbucks did the unthinkable. They declared war on Christmas by removing snowflakes from their holiday cups. Internet personality and evangelist Joshua Feuerstein did what any self-respecting and holy man would do and created a video on YouTube. The video went viral and had responses from a large amount of people, including The Washington Post.

We live in a society where silence is viewed as guilt. By not posting about their motives, which were perfectly acceptable, Starbucks essentially admitted that what they did was wrong, which it wasn’t. The other way that this was a fail is because Starbucks missed a huge opportunity to spin this for them in a positive light. The company could have used this to take a stance on accepting everyone no matter their religious affiliation. Starbucks failed by not doing anything.

Morgan M.

Sources:

http://ktla.com/2015/11/08/starbucks-ceo-responds-to-criticism-of-plain-red-holiday-cups/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/11/10/who-is-josh-feuerstein-the-man-behind-the-starbucks-red-cup-frenzy/