We are less than a week away from the presidential election that has divided that nation in a way I’ve never personally experienced before. The negativity across social media is unbelievable – and, frankly, unacceptable. Perhaps that’s why, yesterday, Starbucks unveiled a special “green” cup with a design meant to bring people together. The artist, Shogo Ota, drew a single line that connects over 100 faces in all walks of life. “What a nice gesture,” you might think. To quote one of the presidential nominees, “WRONG!”
That’s right. Apparently this gesture of positivity is inspiring all sorts of negative (nasty, really) reactions across Twitter. (If you want to see these obnoxious tweets you’ll have to search for them yourself, because I refuse to publish them here.) People are claiming that Starbucks is making a political statement. Really? Do they think that just because a drawing shows people drawn out of one unbroken line that the coffee giant is bringing one candidate’s “Stronger Together” mantra to life? How about the fact that this cup made its debut on November 1, the month of Thanksgiving? Really and truly, it could very well just be a gesture of peace and harmony as we enter the holidays.
I see this reaction as an indicator of the current crazy mindset of our country. It’s an imperfect storm, perhaps, resulting from three factors: 1) the volatility surrounding the election; 2) the entitlement people seem to feel to be terribly nasty and judgmental on social media; 3) the lingering PTSD people “suffered” when Starbucks issued holiday cup designs last year that apparently weren’t “holiday” enough.
To all of this I say, people need to grow the cup up. Because that’s ALL this is. A cup. It’s a nice design. It’s a nice thought. It’s a nice gesture. And it’s their business. As in, it’s Starbucks’ business. Brands are allowed to do things without asking every customer’s opinion before they do. If for some reason you are truly offended by this new design promoting kindness, then just don’t buy anything from Starbucks. But for goodness sake, people, let’s preserve our sense of humanity.
