Katherine Boback ’17
EE Staff Writer
With everything going on in today’s world it may be surprising to see what has the the United States in a controversy so early in the holiday season. You may have heard about it, seen it, or drank from it. That’s right, it’s the Starbucks 2015 holiday cup, and it has the online world in a storm.
Starbucks, the largest coffeehouse company in the world, sparked a throng of controversy when it released it’s new holiday cup on Tuesday, November 3. Unlike previous holiday designs, this cup sports a plain red body devoid of any holiday-themed decorations.
So what has people so mad? Many avid Starbucks customers are outraged because they believe that it is a jest by the company against the christmas season. The supporters of this side of the argument have taken to social media, and as proof of the massive following of this controversy, the original “Starbucks’ War on Christmas” video has more than 14 million views, according to Vox.
Although previous holiday cups never explicitly mentioned Christmas, they showed images of snowmen, snowflakes, holly, and other symbols of the season, and many believe that removing them is a move by Starbucks against Christmas altogether. It is worthy to mention, however, that the coffee house also sells Christmas ornaments, advent calendars, Christmas gift cards, Christmas music CD’s, Christmas coffee blends, and Christmas cookies. But none of these have given any rest to what is being called “The Red Cup Scandal.”
To combat their outrage, many have started a movement to “trick” Starbucks into decorating their holiday cups. When buying a drink and asked for their name, they instead say “Merry Christmas,” so that their plain red cups have at least a small reminder of Christmas cheer.
Needless to say, the controversy has given Starbucks, if it was possible, even more publicity, making some wonder if the whole Scandal was sparked by a sneaky campaign on the corporate end, falling in line with the saying, “all publicity is good publicity.”
Planned or not, even media stars are giving their take on the outrage of the red cup. Ellen Degeneres weighed in on the topic with a jest at the supporters of the argument when she pioneered her “Starbucks Holiday Vision Glasses,” which are a pair of sunglasses with snowflakes and snowmen over the lenses, to help people who feel that Starbucks does not celebrate Christmas enough. “So when you’re wearing these you go into Starbucks and you’ll see Christmas everywhere you look,” she says, while advertising her new glasses which are on sale for a reasonable price of $99, “Which is slightly less than a Venti Frappuccino I believe,” says Ellen.
Stephen Colbert also gave his comedic take when he revealed his version of the starbucks holiday cup, which was covered in tinsel and Christmas lights, and sits atop a small christmas tree, on the Late Show.
Even with these cracks from celebrities, many people are still up in arms about the holiday cups. “I think it’s stupid,” says Trumbull High School junior Kate Romanchick in direct terms. The same opinion was voiced by Ariana Rojas, another student, when she said, “I think you should be worried about other things than the color of a Starbucks cup.” So what do you think? Is the anomaly of the “red cup” a strike against Christmas, or simply, just a plain, red cup?