Everyone needs a cuppa chill. People are in a rage over Starbucks’ new green cups, but it turns out they’ve got it all wrong — well, maybe.
Social media users and dedicated Starbucks customers aired their complaints after Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced the coffee chain’s new green cups on November 1.
In a statement, Schultz explained that the new design — which features a mosaic of more than a hundred people drawn in one continuous stroke — is a reminder of our "shared values and the need to be good to each other.” The cup, Schultz said, was created as a symbol of unity amid the divisive election.
Some, however, believe the new design to be in place of the company’s annual holiday red cup, and thus, the war on Christmas and Starbucks was ignited early.
“What the hell, @Starbucks. All these faces on my green cup and not a one of them looks like Santa or Jesus. WHY DO YOU STILL HATE CHRISTMAS,” one upset customer tweeted, while another dubbed the new design “political brainwashing” and demanded “I want snowflakes.”
It all started after a photo of a red cup featuring hollyberries was leaked on Imgur prior to the green cups’ release. As pointed out by Vox, the box behind the stack of cups in the leaked photo says “No peeking until Nov. 10.” The caption of the leaked snap reads: “I peeked.”
Things got even more complicated, though, when two days later on November 3, another image of a red Starbucks cup surfaced online. This cup, however, featured a snow-covered Christmas tree.
This is the new Starbucks holiday cup for 2016 Cupertino store gave them out this morning #starbucks #holidaycup @HuffingtonPost @TMZ pic.twitter.com/s7KNM6HxUU
— Anthony Desiervi (@AnthonyDesiervi) November 1, 2016
“I was in Cupertino on November 1st and they opened the wrong box and gave me the red holiday,” the Twitter user captioned the photo of his festive red Venti cup. “This will be out on the 10th.”
Only time will tell which is actually the official holiday cup, but this isn’t the first time that Starbucks customers have freaked out over the company’s holiday cups.
Last year, the same debate was sparked after some dubbed the cups too minimalistic, while others were also upset about innocent polar bear cookies whose red scarves made the creatures appear as if their throats had been cut.
’Tis the season!
