The Starbucks Cup, There's a Lesson Here

I want to find the person in the Starbucks marketing department who decided to make a red cup and shake their hand. I wonder if they had any idea that such a decision would spark a massive firestorm of nonsense and malarkey. Seriously, the amount of attention and publicity that Starbucks received from their cup design will go down as the stuff of legend. As a christian, I could not care less about the cup as it had nothing to do with Christianity to begin with. As a man who considers himself a student of business, I think it is freaking awesome. One of the best ways to enhance profitability is to monetize your assets. Turning what you already have in inventory, equipment, etc. and using it to either promote your business or make money directly. I am sure that when the powers that be at Starbucks analyzed their Profit and Loss statement, the last thing they thought about was the stupid cup. It simply goes under the supply line as a necessary expense as it is the vehicle for their product. Slap the logo on there, order 10 million of them and call it a day. So, at the risk of sounding conspiratorial, I wonder if it was done on purpose or if this was simply dumb luck? I wonder if there was a conversation somewhere that went something like this... Marketing person 1: “hey let's take the 'Christmasy crap' off the cup, then leak a fake story about how Starbucks is 'anti christian'” Marketing person 2: “hey, that's a great idea, then we can get the christian right all fired up and talking about it!” Marketing person 1: “Yeah, then everyone will start arguing about it and we will look like geniuses!” As genius as that would have been, it probably went something like this... Accountant: “ If we lose the screen prints on the cup we can save 2 cents per cup on cost” Executive: “Brilliant! Make it happen!” Either way, it turned out great for Starbucks and I'm sure Howard Schultz could not be happier.

However, there is a lesson here for any Christians that actually did get upset about the cup. We as a collective community have been under somewhat of a social assault on our values. One of our defenses to that has always been, the freedom of religion and speech. We must be careful then, to avoid telling other folks who do not believe the same way we do, that they are wrong. Specifically, in regards to this issue, IT IS A BLANK CUP. If we truly believe in our freedom of religion and speech, then we must defend it no matter the situation. You don't have to agree with it or even shop at Starbucks but you must respect their right as much as they need to respect ours.

#RonnieR