Starbucks’ Grassroots Response
Last week, Starbucks placed a video on YouTube responding to a video posted by the Oxfam Charity. The Oxfam video was launched in conjunction with “Starbucks Day of Action” held December 16th, when activists visited Starbucks across the world in protest of the coffee retailer’s alleged mistreatment of Ethiopian farmers.
The Starbucks video calmly addresses the Oxfam allegations, citing an impasse over Ethiopian trademark legalities. Starbucks claims the refusal to sign a trademark agreement with Ethiopia is a stumbling block they hope to resolve on behalf of the farmers. The coffee chain’s representative goes on to refute the contention that Starbucks refuses to pay a fair price for its coffee reserves and in fact, routinely pays well above commodity price.
Unlike many recent ineffectual corporate reactions to social journalism and networking eruptions, Starbucks is unique in that the corporation managed Oxfam’s unconventional assault in a very unconventional way, via YouTube. Regardless of the outcome of this particular incident, the move on Starbuck’s part comes off as unmistakably in touch with today’s communication modes and methods.
January 5th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Starbucks puts its brand to work…
While the above is quite true, Starbucks has employed an unconventional means of rebutal, it should be noted that this is a case of a company utilizing its brand to mislead the general public.
They mislead the public when they say that it is illegal to trademark the names of Ethiopia’s three fine coffees. If you go to the USPTO site you will find that Yirgacheffe has already been issued a trademark.
Consumers, accustomed to equating the Starbucks’ brand with corporate social responsibility will not bother to research any further. So it is not only the means of conveyance, but rather the values of the Starbucks brand that have allowed a corporation to escape the criticisms of the general public. As companies become savvier with respect to marketing and brand utilization, consumers will have to be more discerning.