Starbucks baristas stop writing "Race Together" on cups

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By CANDICE CHOI and TOM KRISHER

NEW YORK (AP) — Starbucks baristas will no longer write "Race Together" on customers' cups starting Sunday, ending as planned a visible component of the company's diversity and racial inequality campaign that had sparked widespread criticism in the week since it took effect.

The coffee chain's initiative will continue more broadly without the handwritten messages, Starbucks spokesman Jim Olson said.

The cups were always "just the catalyst" for a larger conversation, and Starbucks will still hold forum discussions, co-produce special sections in USA TODAY and put more stores in minority communities as part of the Race Together initiative, according to a company memo from CEO Howard Schultz said.

The campaign has been criticized as opportunistic and inappropriate, coming in the wake of racially charged events such as national protests over police killings of black males. Others questioned whether Starbucks workers could spark productive conversations about race while serving drinks.

FULL story at link.



FILE - In a Wednesday, March 18, 2015 file photo, Holly Ainslie, a barista at a Starbucks store in Seattle writes on a cup for an iced drink as she wears a "Race Together" sticker. Starbucks baristas will no longer write "Race Together" on customers' cups starting Sunday, March 22, 2015, ending as planned a visible component of the company's diversity and racial inequality campaign, according to a memo. The coffee chain's initiative will continue more broadly without the handwritten messages, Starbucks spokesman Jim Olson said. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150322/us--starbucks-race_together-dce5aa6bf4.html

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Also see : http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026393470

[BlueJazz]

1. If I were in charge of their Marketing, the whole thing would not have passed my desk.

People want coffee in the morning, not a pseudo-lecture.

[Oktober]

5. Absolutely...

Take the order... Take the money.. make the drink... give me the drink... Moving on...

No chats, no asking me to smile and certainly no lectures... Sheesh...

[arcane1]

11. "I have a great idea: let's make people wait in line for even longer! It's brilliant!"

My eyes already shoot laser beams at the person in front of me if they simply get too chatty!

[BlueJazz]

15. Yes! I always love a "well, you know, my sister, who has the most worthless husband on the earth,...

....tried to make this same cake mix once but had trouble with the oil...it's like I told my sister..."try to always use peanut oil" but she never listens...even when we were young she had to always have her own thoughts on..."

[LisaL]

23. I already avoid Starbucks most of the time because I don't want to wait in line.

Making the line longer because clerks have to write in cups doesn't seem like the good answer.

[yurbud]

16. or to talk to strangers about race.

[LisaL]

22. And shouldn't together be in one line?

Otherwise it looks like Race to get her.

[MADem]

29. That could be problematic, right there! nt

[XemaSab]

32. I think I saw a pron called that once

[MADem]

28. Dayum right. Nothing like getting singled out when all you want is some of their lousy, overpriced

java.

[madville]

39. Most places I've ever worked

Starting a conversation with customers about political, religious, or sensitive topics like race would be a good way to get fired.

[steve2470]

2. They will put stores where they can make enough money

BS on anything else. If a particular location, no matter how worthy, does not look profitable enough, nope. Not gonna happen. Let's not be naive here.

[bluestateguy]

3. This gimmicky practice was putting low paid barristas in an awkward position

nt

[DRoseDARs]

7. They saw McDonald's doing the happy gimmicky cringefest thing and wanted in. nt

[yurbud]

17. their other idea was to have barristas dress as a different racist or oppressed group

to stimulate conversation.

"Oh, great, it's Auschwitz Day at Starbucks again."

[dolphinsandtuna]

41. I think Starbucks

is one of the few companies with decent benefits for its workers.

[ananda]

4. I like it: Race Together!

Let's at least keep the spirit of the slogan.

[DRoseDARs]

6. How many Starbucks are located in predominately minority neighborhoods?

(re:Black and Hispanic) Versus, you know, predominately white neighborhoods? I don't know myself, but I betcha can't guess. Betcha can't guess why, either.

[steve2470]

8. I've never seen one, not saying there are none nt

[DRoseDARs]

9. CEO Schultz can go race together himself.

Pretty ballsy to engage in this PR stunt when his company has a bit of an economic racism problem.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

10. I've been seeing more in chicago.

Nice sentiment. But my car is double parked and I need my coffee.

[MADem]

30. Magic owns a few, I think--but I think it's still a "hen's teeth" situation in minority/diverse

neighborhoods.

[DRoseDARs]

36. I admit, I had to look that axiom up. Found this:

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2006/feb/23/research.highereducation

If you thought hen's teeth were the rarest thing in nature, think again: researchers from Britain and the US have succeeded in growing teeth in a chicken.

Far from being rarer than students who turn up at 9am lectures or lecturers who like giving them, a hen with teeth does occur naturally, scientists based at the universities of Manchester and Wisconsin have found.

And by studying that mutant chicken - which is too weak to hatch, explaining its rarity - the team has been able to stimulate "natural" tooth growth in chickens.

--snip--

--------

The rest of the article is cringetastic.

[MADem]

40. Poor mutant chicken!!!

What a curious thing to study!

[LeftyMom]

34. Maybe two here, maybe not, depends on what you mean.

There are two within walking distance of my home, and several more in the surrounding area, but my neighborhood is majority Southeast Asian, and your parenthetical leaves me unclear on whether or not the people of color who make up my neighborhood "count" as minorities.

Personally, I'm pretty excited that we're finally getting a local coffee shop in the area. If I'm going to overpay for coffee I'd rather overpay my neighbors.

[DRoseDARs]

35. Think about the old "Red Line" tactic lenders used on black communities.

I say old tactic, but really, it's still used today. It's economic racism. And yes, there was a reason I pointed to those groups in particular because of history and recent trends. Bigger businesses and chains are leary of going into areas of lower income and higher crime rates ... even if their only perception of that is the general complexion of those that live there. Asians aren't as dark and the perception is things are safer. Blacks and Hispanics? Maybe we should try to find someone to franchise with us, but let's not try too hard ... wink wink, nudge nudge.

[AtheistCrusader]

37. Go to Bing maps, search for Starbucks Los Angeles.

Zoom out till you can see the entire greater LA region. Tell me how many Starbucks you see. (You can estimate, that's cool, I don't want you to have to spend too long counting.)

By the way:

Los Angeles
White: 41.3% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 29.4%)
Hispanic or Latino (of any race): 47.5%



Edit: I'll save you the effort entirely, there's a hundred and sixty one distributed across LA.

[madville]

38. They put stores where it's profitable

Would $3-$5 coffee drinks sell well in those neighborhoods?

If there was money to be made they would have locations there.

[FrodosPet]

13. The spirit of the message is noble

But he is adding extra tasks to people who already have a job to do. One which they are not adequately trained for.

Not to mention, as others have pointed out, the hypocrisy element of where most Starbucks are located.

[arcane1]

19. Not to mention adding extra time for customers who want to get their coffee and go.

And, as mentioned above, all the poor fools waiting in line behind them.

[appalachiablue]

20. Message is great, method is very poor, dumb. Just have it printed on the cups, leave out the staff

so a good concept can be furthered. I wonder if Uber will do something like this. Dunno if they're in low income or minority neighborhoods much, but they are loved. Their mgmt. not so much. There must be an app to order from Starbucks, that's a huge winner.

[Sivafae]

48. It was a good idea, but show how out of touch theu guy is

with what his baristas actually do in their time working for Starbuck's. I don't have a lot of the issues that others have. I personally think it was a great idea because it is the white areas that need to be informed the most. But realistically, the guy is totally out of touch with what his own workers do, that was the most obvious part to me.

[arcane1]

18. Absolutely nobody had a problem with the message. That wasn't the point.

[Enrique]

14. the found the whitest possible barista for the file photo

[Pooka Fey]

21. Excuse me?

[seveneyes]

24. Paint it black

[romanic]

31. Well

you could find a black barista and send her picture to the AP if you want. *shrug*

[snooper2]

45. and a ginger too!

LOL

[romanic]

25. Again, good intentions

but no one wants to talk or debate about race while getting a cup of coffee. And as others have pointed out, the baristas are not paid enough or worldy enough to talk about race anyway.

Another thing, the blurb about putting more Starbucks in minority communities has the potential to backfire just like this opportunistic campaign. Remember the stink caused in Portland when Trader Joe's wanted to open in a mostly black neighborhood? The small but vocal minority cries "gentrification" and caused that project to fall through and many of the residents to blame the black activist group for it failing in the first place. I can only imagine that similar scenario playing out if Starbucks stepped foot in many minority areas.

[Nye Bevan]

26. Too bad. This GREAT concept could easily have been extended

to things like my auto mechanic lecturing me about male privilege and the patriarchy. Or the UPS guy taking time out to proactively raise issues about LGBT equal rights.

[dariomax]

43. LOL

[Depaysement]

27. Instead

They should write "One Big Union."

[XemaSab]

33. It only highlights the fact

that black people are having one conversation and white people are having a totally different conversation.

We're talking past each other.

[Vinca]

42. Good. People just want to enjoy their coffee in peace.

It doesn't mean they don't care about racial issues, it means they would like a few minutes to get away from all the stresses of daily life.

[Darb]

44. What a bunch of farkin whiners. So what.........

They write something on your cup, BIG FUCKING DEAL. Nobody has to have a conversation with anyone, fucking derrrrrrrr. They did it to help facilitate a national conversation about race, not a conversation in front of you with a barista while you stand in line to overpay for your precious fucking coffee.

GODDAMN THIS SITE LOOKS MORE AND MORE LIKE FREAKREPUBLIC EVERY GODDAMNED DAY. WHAT A BUNCH OF CANDY ASSES.

[snooper2]

46. are you okay or do you need a snuggle?

[Darb]

47. I love snuggles. Hate whiners.

The interpretations of Starbucks intent around here are so similar to what a teabagger would say it makes me need a snuggle, and a vomit.