Starbucks made an awkward move into the discussion of race relations this week with an ad campaign, in parnership with USA Today, called "Race Together." (Newsy: Some call it "bold," others call it "perilous")
As part of the campaign, the company is encouraging baristas to write "Race Together" on cups of beverages and to discuss race with customers. (Source: Newsy and PBPost.com)
Note: The Newsy video includes images from Getty Images and Starbucks.
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Some background here: Starbucks in the past has taken public positions on issues like minimum wage, same-sex marriage and gun control.
Before this week's campaign, CEO Howard Schultz held employee meetings on racial inequality in December after the killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York.
"And to be honest, there were some who said, 'Howard, this is not a subject we should touch. This is not for you. This is not for a company. This is for someone else,'" Schultz said. "I reject that. I reject that completely."
Whatever the good intentions of the company might be, Starbucks Senior VP of Communications, Corey duBrow, was so deluged with snarky and negative comments about the campaign on social media that by Tuesday afternoon he deleted his Twitter account. (Source: Business Insider)
If the intention was simply to spark conversation -- constructive or otherwise, mission accomplished. Here's a roundup of some more reactions from National Public Radio.
The Washington Post published some of the zingers from critics of the campaign, including this one:
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