December 9, 2005--Fanticisms XII--How Starbucks Got In Hot Water
“You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense.” And you will never get your hands on another cup of Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino. At least without this quote from Pastor Rick Warren embossed on the cups.
You see, Starbucks got in trouble last summer when they printed, on their cups, “My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long.” This mobilized some Evangelical Christian groups to consider boycotting them. As reported in the NY Times (see link for full article), Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute, the conservative group that confronted Starbucks, “They have long served up a New Age secular worldview [along with their Cappuccino]; and it’s about time that they acknowledged that 90 percent of Americas believe in God and millions of them are Christians.”
Starbucks of course denies that they gave into these threats by putting God on their coffee cups. Rather, they claim, they are just trying to show “a diversity of thought and opinion.”
Sure. Starbucks, as all other companies, is bottom-line oriented and therefore good at counting. They too know that we are a very religious people and if they want to expand their business in those regions between the Red coastal states, it certainly won’t hurt them to have God below their logo. As Michael [not Robert] Novak says, “Religion is like yeast in dough. It’s in every part of life, so for it to show up everywhere is only natural—in commerce, politics, and sports.” I suppose we should remember that Jesus taught in the Temple and the marketplace. So why not in Starbucks?
Speaking of that logo, if take a closer look at the current version and the original. (the link here will take you to both of those images http://www.alienryderflex.com/starbucks/), it will show you in graphic detail that caving in to this kind of pressure is not unprecedented at Starbucks. Actually, quite the contrary.
The original logo is much racier than the current one. The now familiar Starbucks mermaid not only had a belly button sticking out but also had her “legs” spread out above her head. Starbucks eliminated both of these sexy references by moving in for a tighter image and thereby cropping them from the original, larger version.
Maybe they did this in order to make more room on their cups for God.
You see, Starbucks got in trouble last summer when they printed, on their cups, “My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long.” This mobilized some Evangelical Christian groups to consider boycotting them. As reported in the NY Times (see link for full article), Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute, the conservative group that confronted Starbucks, “They have long served up a New Age secular worldview [along with their Cappuccino]; and it’s about time that they acknowledged that 90 percent of Americas believe in God and millions of them are Christians.”
Starbucks of course denies that they gave into these threats by putting God on their coffee cups. Rather, they claim, they are just trying to show “a diversity of thought and opinion.”
Sure. Starbucks, as all other companies, is bottom-line oriented and therefore good at counting. They too know that we are a very religious people and if they want to expand their business in those regions between the Red coastal states, it certainly won’t hurt them to have God below their logo. As Michael [not Robert] Novak says, “Religion is like yeast in dough. It’s in every part of life, so for it to show up everywhere is only natural—in commerce, politics, and sports.” I suppose we should remember that Jesus taught in the Temple and the marketplace. So why not in Starbucks?
Speaking of that logo, if take a closer look at the current version and the original. (the link here will take you to both of those images http://www.alienryderflex.com/starbucks/), it will show you in graphic detail that caving in to this kind of pressure is not unprecedented at Starbucks. Actually, quite the contrary.
The original logo is much racier than the current one. The now familiar Starbucks mermaid not only had a belly button sticking out but also had her “legs” spread out above her head. Starbucks eliminated both of these sexy references by moving in for a tighter image and thereby cropping them from the original, larger version.
Maybe they did this in order to make more room on their cups for God.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
10:55 AM
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