I have written before that I consider Starbucks coffee a rather poor brew. I buy a cup from an SB joint only in extremis, maybe twice per year. The Publix grocery near us sells Starbucks bagged coffee and very occasionally I buy whole-bean Sumatran coffee when I'm not able to roast my own beans for some reason. Like now - both my roasters are broken. One started spewing sparks as I was roasting last night and I dropped the glass roasting chamber of the other a couple of days ago and broke it. The replacement hasn't arrived.
Starbucks has apparently started a new business venture: ticking off its customers not merely with its crummy coffee, but with the cup the crummy coffee comes in. The Tennessean reports in, "I'll have some atheism in my coffee," in its "community views" section:If you have not heard by now, a woman in Ohio recently purchased a cup of coffee from Starbuck’s that had this statement on its cup “Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure.” Funny but I do not remember seeing any bible verses on any of its cups over the past few years. Now I can’t say that I ever look at those statements but rest assured if there had been a bible verse we would have heard about it from the ACLU. It seems as if the name of God is welcome as long as it is taken in vain or is of a deragatory nature. Starbucks claims that its “the way I see it campagin” is not necessarily its views. However, as a business your promotions and actions as a company are your views, otherwise you would not publish them. ...Exactly. So even though I have no way at present to roast my own coffee, mayhaps I won't buy Starbucks any more. There's no way that this international megacorporation will miss my patronage, which at best accounts for 0.00000000001% of its revenue. But doggone it, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Lipton, anyone? However, it seems that Starbucks is an equal-opportunity insulter. There is a page on the company's web site where you can leave a comment about their comments. One cup series featured this (scroll down page):
The Way I See It #92"You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose. Focusing on yourself will never reveal your purpose. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny."
-- Dr. Rick Warren
Author of The Purpose-Driven Life.
Although I know that these writings are not necessarily the viewpoints of your company, I'm disappointed to see this one on your cup.
Don't get me wrong. I fully believe that it's an inspirational and thought-provoking comment, but I am not a Christian, and I don't appreciate having God's Plan preached to me via my coffee cup. It's one thing to read about someone's point of view, but it's quite another to read a blatantly religious statement informing me that my purpose is to serve God.
Please know that I am a die-hard Starbucks fan, and I enjoy your products several times a week, and have for over 15 years. This misstep will not change that. I just ask that you consider your "The Way I See It" contributions a little more carefully. ...
Well, fine, now Starbucks is just ticking everyone off! Is that good for business? But let's consider Ms. Paxton's objection: She's "not a Christian" but nonetheless finds the Warren quote "inspirational and thought-provoking," but she "doesn't appreciate" it being "preached" to her. Huh? I missed something. Let me admit I found the "atheist" quote thought-provoking (obviously, since I'm blogging about it) but not at all inspirational. In fact, it was self-contradictory: "After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure.” Oh, yeah, we're managing real well, aren't we? It seems historically provable that the catastrophes humankind has caused (think of the last 100 years) have led mostly to other catastrophes. Just consider, say, the connection between 1918 and 1939. Anyway, back to Ms. Paxton. She seems to appreciate the Warren quote in itself, but wishes she had not encountered it on her coffee cup. I am reminded of a woman named Alexandra Roth, profiled in a religion article in The Washington Post, June 4, 1995:
When her 3-year old son Graham came to her recently and asked, “Where is God?” Alexandra Roth took a deep breath.
Like many Americans, Roth has never found a home in any church or faith. . . . She considers herself an atheist, but she wants her son to have a sense of reverence and gratitude “and the idea of God is one pathway to that,” she says.
So she told Graham that God is everywhere, but that only piqued his curiosity. “Is God in my body?” he asked. “Is God mixed with my lunch?”
“They’re hard questions to answer,” Roth said later, “especially if you don’t have a catechism to refer to.”
If Roth considers herself an atheist, it is unclear what she wants her son to have a sense of reverence for, or for what she wants him to be grateful, and why. Such an “idea of God” seems no more than an amalgam of generally desirable personal characteristics. I suspect that this is the sort of bland "inspiration" and thought provocation that Ms. Dexter has in mind.
Anyway, have you encountered a Starbucks comment cup? From their web site, it seems that all their comments raise someone's ire. What do you think about this business practice? Will it help raise or lower revenues?
HT: Nashville Is Talking.