Remember the Starbucks red cup controversy of 2015? Starbucks fans lost it when the chain revealed their holiday cup design, which featured the green logo against a plain red background. How dare they, right?! That's how many reacted, stating they felt the company had removed all signs of Christmas from their cups. Former Arizona pastor Joshua Feuerstein recorded a video detailing his outrage, calling for customers to give the name "Merry Christmas" to the barista when ordering. A spokesperson for the coffee chain told E! News of the video, "In response to the video, our core values as a company is to create a culture of belonging, inclusion and diversity. Each year during the holidays we aim to bring our customers an experience that inspires the spirit of the season and we will continue to embrace and welcome customers from all backgrounds and religions in our stores around the world."
Similarly, Aaron Dean, a barista, commented on the viral video, "I work at Starbucks and there hasn't been anything innately Christmas on the cups in years. Sure there have been snowflakes, scarves, and snowmen, but they haven't said the word Christmas on them since I've worked here. We even have a Christmas blend coffee." Basically, the whole release was a huge ordeal and kind of put a damper on the festive vibe.
Despite barely being out of Pumpkin Spice Latte season, the red cup design is (unofficially) here.
It's me or the new red cups from @Starbucks looks like meat? ???? pic.twitter.com/H8ejIbMGGi
— M A F E R ?? (@hellomaphie) October 30, 2016
Technically, it looks like they weren't supposed to be revealed until next month, but, one Redditor peeped inside their store's shipment of cups and revealed them to the internet. The boxes of cups are labeled with signs that say "No peeking until November 10," but those foolish rules don't apply to user DasUberSquid. The big reveal features a white drawing on top of the red background. If you look closely, you can see leaves, berries, a bird and more. What you can't see is any blatant Christmas-ness, so we have to wonder if these cups will drive the internet wild again. We caught one reaction on Twitter already, from someone who thinks the new cups look like meat.
Sigh. Can't win them all.