The Starbucks 2015 holiday cup has taken the U.S. by storm, and not in a good way. You may think I am about to argue how the cup is an attack on Christianity, or it’s about time that the cup is inclusive for all beliefs, but you are wrong. The dramatic debate caused by a cup instead shows a lot about our society.
People are seriously offended that a cup is a solid color, and not a Christmas influenced design.
Really? People are really infuriated by the cup not promoting Christianity anymore. Starbucks released a statement that explained their intentions with the cup, “’In the past, we have told stories with our holiday cups designs,” said Fields. “This year we wanted to usher in the holidays with a purity of design that welcomes all of our stories.’ Creating a culture of belonging, inclusion and diversity is one of the core values of Starbucks, and each year during the holidays the company aims to bring customers an experience that inspires the spirit of the season. Starbucks will continue to embrace and welcome customers from all backgrounds and religions in our stores around the world.”
However, their was still a mass uproar from the public. Donald Trump even suggested, at a political rally, to boycott Starbucks, “Maybe we should boycott Starbucks? I don’t know. Seriously, I don’t care. By the way, that’s the end of that lease but who cares.” And later added, “If I become president, we’re all going to be saying Merry Christmas again, that I can tell you. That I can tell you. Unbelievable.”
For me, the most mind blowing thing about all of this is that people feel that their religion is being attacked and excluded, when the true goal is to include all religions for the winter holiday season. Don’t people realize that their are other winter holidays besides Christmas? Shouldn’t they be included in the celebrations as well. For a religion that preaches forgiveness and loving each other, their seems to be a large amount of hate and resentment going on.
Even CNN published an article calling the cups “PC Nonsense”, where the author explicitly states he is a Christian and says “It’s downright nutty to think that reindeer and ornaments exclude anyone.” Does he not see his own bias? Maybe if he was Jewish, Atheist, Muslim, or any other religion, he would see how one can feel excluded when their winter coffee is donned in icons mainly associated with Christmas.
One things for certain, Dunkin Donuts had a weak attempt to make themselves look good with their holiday cup. No one seemed to care about theirs.
