Call it the first advertising mistake of the holiday season or a genius marketing ploy, but no matter how you look at it, Starbucks is the first corporate entity to reignite the “War on Christmas” battle this year.
Starbucks sparked controversy just a few days ago when it released its newly redesigned holiday cups, a simple red design devoid of any holiday markings. The initial online and broadcast response was overwhelming, declaring that Starbucks had committed another atrocity in the so-called War on Christmas.
Major TV personalities were quick to latch on to the ridicule, with talk show hosts Ellen Degeneres and Stephen Colbert offering their own brands of satire on how to make the basic design of the new cup more festive.
Republican Presidential candidate hopeful Donald Trump also got involved, (predictably) taking it out of the joke realm and calling for a Starbucks boycott.
In response to this perceived overreaction to the cup redesign, the “#ItsJustACup” hashtag sprang up to soothe some of those holiday-themed flames of anger.
According to MediaMiser’s hashtag analysis, while Twitter sentiment toward Starbucks has been relatively balanced so far, some distinct themes surrounding the content have also emerged.
Of the tweets analyzed, 21 per cent connected the controversy to a perceived lack of focus on other, perhaps more important issues:
Children are starving. Girls in developing countries are experiencing FGM. Veterans are homeless. There’s no cure for cancer. #ItsJustACup
— Erin (@erinmcguireee) November 10, 2015
Ten per cent of tweets reminded fellow Twitter users that both the price of Starbucks coffee or its taste should be the focus, and not the cup:
We shouldn’t be pissed about the damn cup what we should be pissed about is how they get $5 for a small cup of terrible coffee #ItsJustACup — chris siddons (@bigman12182) November 12, 2015
If anything should offend you about Starbucks, it’s the price of their coffee. #ItsJustACup pic.twitter.com/41ZgxbKuIe
— Geoff Johnson (@geoff5093) November 12, 2015
A further six per cent of tweets tried to remind people that while Starbucks changed its cup design, the company features many other products that fully embrace the holiday season theme:
For everyone complaining about red cups…I see Xmas trees and snowmen. @Starbucks #ItsJustACup pic.twitter.com/suiE2iD9Cs — Russell Tanenbaum (@russdance92) November 12, 2015
To everyone who think Starbucks is anti-christmas, I just went there and saw an advent calendar for sale. #ItsJustACup
— Daniel Mann (@TheRealDanMann) November 12, 2015
Several others compared Starbucks to two of its major competitors, McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts (the former deftly avoided holiday controversy by placing brown snowflakes on its cup):
All Starbucks had to do was add some brown snowflakes and everything would be done #ItsJustACup pic.twitter.com/x3SJrWmLvd — Jesse Pentecost (@Jpentecost1) November 12, 2015
You want a #Christmas coffee cup, @DunkinDonuts has your Christmas coffee cup! #Itsjustacup https://t.co/ce8NAr5p5U pic.twitter.com/qxB9a3nhAU
— TALK RADIO 570 KVI (@KVIseattle) November 12, 2015
Others viewed it as a possible genius marketing ploy by Starbucks to generate buzz:
Maybe this @Starbucks cup thing is just a genius marketing ploy to get everyone to talk about Starbucks around the holidays #ItsJustACup — Mark Leach (@markleachmusic) November 10, 2015
But the overarching theme among tweets was to either address the absurdity of the controversy with humour, or simply plead to offended patrons to calm down and remember that, after all, #ItsJustACup.
Here’s my take on the whole Starbucks Red Cup controversy #ItsJustACup (Full Article: https://t.co/A2vXMYw1QU) pic.twitter.com/QA6h1kwcRm
— Mac Faulkner (@macfaulkner) November 11, 2015
