Starbucks Holiday Cups Stirring up Controversy

According to Starbucks.com, the famous “Starbucks Red Cup” fad began in 1997, when there were only 1,400 stores nationwide. The Starbucks Creative team developed a new cup design each year to generate excitement during the holiday season. Past designs of the cup included snowmen, snowflakes, and reindeer.

This year’s holiday cup was released on November first. The cup is plain red with the Starbucks logo in the center. This new theme is causing controversy, according to social media sites, where many individuals have expressed their opinions regarding the Starbucks red cup.

Joshua Feuerstein, a former pastor from Arizona, made a video on his Facebook page in which he ranted and criticized Starbucks for the blank design.

“Starbucks removed Christmas from their cups because they hate Jesus,” said Feuerstein.

Out of the 25 Arrowhead students surveyed, every individual said they didn’t care and it didn’t bother them that Starbucks is using a plain red cup without any Christmas themes on it.

Taylor Stoll, a senior at Arrowhead said, “It’s so stupid that everyone is so focused on the fact that Starbucks has a plain red cup for the holidays because in my opinion, Starbucks didn’t do this because they hate Christmas. They probably just did it because it’s different from what they usually do.”

According to Starbucks.com, Jeffrey Fields, the vice president for design and content at Starbucks said, “The company wanted to usher in the holidays with a purity of design that welcomes all of our stories.”

Mia Rocco, a senior at Arrowhead said, “I love Starbucks so much I go there at least five times a week and I don’t think that by Starbucks taking off  the holiday things on the cups makes them hate Jesus or Christmas. By making it a neutral red, they were just doing it so that it was aimed toward everyone and the holiday season, instead of just focusing on Christmas.”

On Twitter, people voiced their opinions regarding the Starbucks plain red holiday cup. @annacarrandi tweeted, “this whole #StarbucksRedCup crap is ridiculous….if a cup is what you base your faith on? looks like someone might need Jesus.”  

According to starbucks.com, this year’s design is a way for Starbucks to allow customers to create their own story with the plain red cup–symbolizing a blank canvas.

On the Starbucks website Fields said , “In the past, we have told stories with our holiday cup designs. This year we wanted to usher in the holidays with a purity of design that welcomes all of our stories.”