Brewing a crisis in a coffee cup

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You’ve undoubtedly heard the expression ‘tempest in a teapot.’ Today I write about a crisis in a coffee cup.

I’d missed the whole brouhaha over Starbucks’ ill-advised scheme to start a public discussion about race. Perhaps that’s because I’m Canadian and the program didn’t exist here. Or maybe it’s because I don’t drink coffee.

But as soon as I heard about it — via an amusing John Oliver segment on the show Last Week Tonight – I was shocked to learn how naive the company had been in “crafting” (I use the snicker quotes deliberately) this campaign.

First, as Oliver pointed out so amusingly, race is an important issue — “not one you want to discuss in the time it takes to whip up a tiramisu frappuccino.”

Second, they hadn’t thought through the logistics. Imagine being a busy barista with a long lineup in front of you. Do you even have the time to converse with anyone? According to Business Insider, management knows how long it takes baristas to do their jobs. They just decided not to give them enough time.

Third, Starbucks hadn’t done enough due diligence before launching this campaign. Although I know they believe in diversity, the photos of people on their leadership team don’t look impressive. Judging by appearances and last names, it appears as though only four of the 19 people — or 21 per cent — are non-Caucasian.

Fourth, they clearly had no plan for what to do if things went wrong. When I heard that the VP of communications had temporarily deleted his Twitter account, saying he felt “personally attacked under a cascade of negativity” I rolled my eyes at the irony of it.

Companies: don’t start public conversations you aren’t prepared to handle. When it comes to race, we are all human. (That’s what one of the Starbucks ads said.) But when it comes to positive PR some of us do it better than others. Thank goodness the Starbucks campaign ended almost as quickly as it had began.

 

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