Starbucks dishing ‘Godless’ Cups
I’ve been rather behind on posts, so here’s something that made it’s way around last week.
Starbucks, you know, that little neighborhood coffee joint, has come under fire for printing and circulating cups with quotations that have been interperated as atheistic in nature. In other words, some people are pissed off about the quotations, which in my opinion is not a big deal at all. According to the story from WorldNetDaily, here is the quotation that kicked off the hoopla. second quotation in a series of controversial cups. Turns out there was an earlier scandal of Starbucks cups discussing religion and homosexuality.
Heaven is totally overrated. It seems boring. Clouds, listening to people play the harp. It should be somewhere you can’t wait to go, like a luxury hotel. Maybe blue skies and soft music were enough to keep people in line in the 17th century, but Heaven has to step it up a bit. They’re basically getting by because they only have to be better than Hell. — Joel Stein, columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
Is this a big deal or just the overreacting or religious zealots? Personally, I applaud Starbucks’ decision to soldier on with the “The Way I see It” campaign on their cups. Considering all the anti-coprorate, anti-American sentiment that has come down squarely on their shoulders over the years, I think they’ve done a helluva job of maintaining the same products and services that got them on every street corner in the first place.
For me, this isn’t an ordinary foot-in-mouth religious blunder from a major corporation, this is about the Starbucks Cup, which are perhaps the simplest and most effective branding campaign since the Coke Bottle. Do you remember back in the mid 90s when all those young, good-looking hipster types began walking around with those white coffee cups. White? You mean, people aren’t forced to drink from those “Happy to Serve You” cups? Wow. And that’s how it happened. A white cup with a green circle and suddenly there’s a new sheriff in coffee town.
It’s actually quite amazing to watch when something like this happens on the brand landscape. Shapes, colours, symbols, and taking it to the street. I happened with the Nike swoosh in the 80s, the Starbucks cup in the 90s, and the iPod earbuds in the 2000s. What will be next?
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