Starbucks's Race Dialogue Initiative. #racetogether.

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It's not the government that is putting that on cups. It's a corporation. And it isn't like they are telling you to do anything or be anything or have an opinion. Race Together is what we have to deal with. That's our country. How can anyone deny for one second America is pretty much nothing but several races living together as opposed to one of those countries that is all one ethnic group or ethnicity with just sliver minorities here and there?

I had not heard about the campaign till this thread. My reaction is, "those poor employees!". It is an unfair burden to place on the employees that only do they have to keep countless coffee orders straight, they are now somehow expected to "open a dialogue" with their customers about a hot button issue all without holding up the line during morning rush. It is a cruelty to the employees.

I googled for other's reactions and found this:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2015/03/17/393562838/heres-what-people-are-saying-about-starbucks-race-together-campaign

The only time this could ever work is if two conditions are met:
1)there is only one customer in line- so race dialogue won't hold up the line
2)the barista and the customer are of a similar mind- otherwise 'the customer is always right' will come to a brutal clash with whatever the barista thinks. Or is the barista not supposed to have an opinion? Who is supposed to be having a dialogue with who in this supposed dialogue?

It is one of Starbucks' stupider ideas and will hopefully end soon- preferbaly before some hapless employee gets yelled at by an angry customer.

I was just at Starbucks yesterday and guess what? No talks about race. No dialogues. And nothing written on any cups. Seems to voluntarily, at least around here.

In fact, like you, Janissy, I just found out about this today and it was on one of those morning news shows then I saw online something about it two days ago so it's been at least two days and being at Starbucks yesterday, on the north side of town, we have two where I live, I heard nothing about race or any of this. It was not present that I could see in the drive thru or on the cups. I didn't venture inside the cafe though.

Whenever I go to Starbucks it's just friendly people filling orders and that's about it. They are friendlier than average. It was only after the Starbucks Friendlies came to town that other people's at other fast food joints got their Friendlies out as well.

Last edited by ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo on 18 Mar 2015, 6:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hehe. I amn't surprised. Line employees always find ways to focus on the critical parts of their jobs while avoiding the tedious parts.

Aspie Utah, I think it has been blown way out of proportion. Yes it does sound a bit corny but given the location, for all I know, in the coffee haus people could already be discussing such topics so to them it wouldn't be a big deal to see that on a coffee cup. However, in middle America, and on Twitter, it seems out of context and people are making a big deal out of something that could be interpreted as just kind of silly and might be common place in many of their locations already. People that go to coffee hauses tend to be young, hip and have friends of different ethnicities so they wouldn't find it strange or intrusive to see that on a coffee cup.

Yeah, Starbucks wanted to spark a conversation. They did but didn't expect how it would turn against them. Americans will come together when they see a need. But, they resent being told to do it. Somebody at Starbucks forgot that truism.

It's coffee haus tradition. You sit there, drinking caffeine and talking revolution. This is hardly what I would call revolution, simply conversational topic aimed at the hipsters who frequent coffee hauses but it is in line with this traditional coffee haus theme, going in, drinking coffee and discussing. That has been happening in Europe for quite some time. So, I still do not see how anyone is telling anyone else to do anything and I certainly disagree on the amount of bullying that has occurred over it. No one is insisting people do anything it's merely an observation and at the coffee hauses different races often sit together anyway, don't they?

Not being racist is a pretty innocuous thing to be associated with. I wonder how much of this controversy is an advert.

It's always possible it is contrived, including the response, but it would also seem the response to Chick Fil A is also contrived since when they do their Appreciation Days marketing tactic, they illicit much conversation online so if they can and be genuine about who is conversing about it online, why question who is responding to Starbucks?

Like news and politics, all marketing is contrived. Hehe. Except for the rare organically developed story of a "hero" who saves a choking toddler who passed out briefly, our world is largely promoted by hucksters. I got sick of it and hated my own profession.

To answer your question, I think Starbucks opened up a can of worms. Its marketers should have known that people of all races and on all sides of the matter would end up feeling lectured to. People don't mind contrived marketing so long as they don't feel patronized or lectured to.

The only ones who can know for sure are the ones who experience the "lectured to." How can people on Twitter, when it isn't even known if they ever venture inside a Starbucks, feel lectured to just because of the hashtag racetogether or the acknowledgement that a barrista might ask someone inside about race, at his or her own discretion and since barristas are the ones who are closest physically to the customers each day, they are aware of what their customers look like and talk about and would know what would be considered appropriate. I have been inside Starbucks many times and the people I see do not look like they would be intimidated by a discussion about race at all. The younger ones are more apt to talk about it especially the ones who venture into Starbucks with the MTV "Real World" type shows they were raised on where there's a group of young people discussing all kinds of things older folk might not really appreciate or relate to.

As far as contrived marketing, I meant the commentors online. Are they real or not? I know the rest of it is contrived, of course. All marketing is contrived.

thought this was funny ...

But see, LovenotHate, the idea it's about white privilege is in your mind and if you want to go in there and talk to them, fine. Btw Starbucks doesn't give that white privilege vibe. It's just a place to go, get coffee, eat snack and people talk to each other in there. You see all kinds in there, students, families, people sitting there with their computers and the one in the Barnes and Noble in Norman, literally loaded with laptops and folks when the weather's good, also folks reading books. It's more like a library than a bookstore.

Take a look at those North Beach cafes with wines, coffees, pastries and all sorts of neat-o eccentric characters. That might have been where The Beat started. Coffee house culture certainly is livable.

cause only liberals drink coffee. >.>
lots and lots of people from the right and lots of old people go to starbucks.

the big campaign of gun owners supporting them proves this. they sell coffee, most people like coffee, so their customers come from a giant spectrum of people.

i personally don't drink they're, too expensive, i don't like coffee, and their flavor choice is limited to 5. how is it dutch brothers can have 30+ flavors in their smaller shops yet starbucks cant.

Don't forget about Dunkin Donuts. They have coffee, too!

I suspect that a lot of the comments are manufactured. Absolutely. But, don't discount what politicians and marketers describe as "useless idiots" who can easily be convinced to latch onto a trend (think Mood Rings, leisure suits, disco and the Wall Street '80s). Americans see life through Disney-colored glasses and want to be a part of the party.