Earlier this morning, we reported that Starbucks launched a new social justice initiative — encouraging baristas to chat with customers about race. The campaign called ‘Race Together’ was instantly a fantastic disaster.
I mean, who would’ve imagined engaging customers on a highly politicized issue like race could have possibly gone awry?
This afternoon, Business Insider reported that Starbucks’ Global Communications Senior VP, Corey duBrowa, had shut down his Twitter account after going on a Twitter user blockfest. Why? Evidently he wasn’t interested in participating in the conversation Starbucks had started.
Interestingly, those ‘attacking’ duBrowa (at least as reported by Business Insider) appear to be of the left leaning persuasion. DuBrowa told BI, “I was personally attacked through my Twitter account around midnight last night and the tweets represented a distraction from the respectful conversation we are trying to start around Race Together. I’ll be back on Twitter soon.”
But that was only the beginning.
Vox had this article:
Even Talking Points Memo was unimpressed:
Then issues like this popped up:
This one, too:
And social justice warriors like this one, made the point that race is too nuanced to be explained on a sticker.
Starbucks claims they’ll address Race Together further in a shareholder meeting tomorrow, but it may be too late.
Follow Kemberlee Kaye on Twitter
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY
