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Merry Christmas Starbucks: New Holiday Cup Has Started A Social Media Feud

By Kiyana Wilkins
Published on: 14:09 PST, Nov 7, 2015

Starbucks has released its annual holiday cup design, and this years minimalist design has many coffee drinkers in an uproar. Don’t expect to see the traditional snowflakes, ornaments, or inspirational quotes this year as the new holiday design features no decoration at all, aside from the Starbucks logo, Fox News reports.

Both Twitter and Facebook have been filled with complaints about the cup change, but it all started with a single Facebook video, uploaded by a man named Joshua Feuerstein, declaring that Starbucks removed the decorations “because they hate Jesus.” At the end of the video, Feuerstein says Christians need to start a movement against Starbucks’ decision, and the movement was given the name #MerryChristmasStarbucks.

https://www.facebook.com/joshua.feuerstein.5/videos/689569711145714/

Pretty much immediately, photos began popping up all over social media with coffee drinkers showing off their handwritten “Merry Christmas” messages on their plain red Starbucks cups.

To make matters worse, an article was posted to Breitbart London calling the red cups part of the “War on Christmas.”

However, it appears that the coffee “movement” will come to an end just as quickly as it began. The #MerryChristmasStarbucks feed has been taken over by people who are sticking up for Starbucks and say this movement is an overreaction and an excuse to be angry.

https://www.facebook.com/bowling.amy/posts/10207693880966734?pnref=story

According to Starbucks’ website, the design was meant to “give people a piece of calm,” but it appears the cup has done just the opposite.

Starbucks’ vice president of design, Jeffrey Fields, defended the cups design, saying that Starbucks is embracing the simplicity of the holidays.

“Starbucks has become a place of sanctuary during the holidays,” Fields said in a statement. “We’re embracing the simplicity and the quietness of it.”

Ken Nisch, chairman of a branding and retail design company called JGA, said this year’s Starbucks cup was actually designed in an attempt not to offend or alienate anyone.

“It’s not exactly Christmas,” he said, “It plays to people in the middle, because it’s something they would have all year around.”

This would not be the first time, however, that Starbucks has missed the mark when trying not to offend anyone. As the Inquisitr previously reported, Starbucks released an ad earlier this year that was meant to honor people ethnically from the Middle East, but similar to the holiday cup situation, the ad had the opposite effect.

Starbucks spokeswoman Erin Shane says Starbucks cups are designed to depict a different story every year. In the past, the designs were more vintage, but Shane says this year they chose empty space to offer coffee drinkers a chance to tell their own story. “It can be literal, for example, as a blank canvas or it can be taken figuratively,” she said.

And it’s important to note that not all Christian groups agree with the “movement.” Paul Batura, vice president of communications at Focus on the Family, said the old designs were never symbols of Christmas.

“I wonder if we’re not overthinking or overanalyzing this,” he said. “Christmas isn’t found in a cup or in a snowflake. Instead, it’s found in the hearts and minds of those of us who believe that God sent His only son to earth in the form of an innocent, helpless baby.”

The question is how long will this coffee cup feud continue and will Starbucks cave?

[Photo by Joe Raedle / Getty Images]

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