|
Dear Friends,
All of your efforts in the Buck Starbucks campaign
may have finally forced those with a conscience at
the Starbucks Coffee Company to listen up! SHARK
has just received the current response being handed
out by Starbucks Customer Relations in regards to
their sponsorship of rodeos:
“At Starbucks, we are deeply committed to living
by our six Guiding Principles,
which include Contributing Positively to our
Communities and Environment. One of
the ways we give back is by supporting activities
that are important to the
communities we serve.
As a result, a significant portion of Starbucks
marketing efforts are locally
driven and focus on connecting with the community
through sponsorships, events
and community giving programs. In some instances,
Starbucks could be involved
with an event that may be relevant to one
community, but not to another. In all
cases, we strive to support our communities in a way
that is consistent with
Starbucks culture and values. It is never our intent
to offend our customers or
community neighbors.
As we reviewed coffee donations and other
community activities, we learned that
some of these events included rodeos. As a
result, and consistent with our
values and guiding principles, we have asked our
local marketing teams to ensure
that Starbucks does not affiliate with events that
include rodeos.
To learn more about how Starbucks supports our
global community, please see our
Corporate Social Responsibility Report at
www.starbucks.com/csrannualreport.”
|
|
What Does This Mean? |
 |
There has been a litany of changing statements from
Starbucks on their rodeo involvement up to this
point. Written responses from the company have
ranged from downplaying their financial contribution,
to being proud to support “local cultural events” to
blatantly lying when they have said, “Starbucks has
no affiliation with rodeos.”
Thus, SHARK is withholding a victory hurrah until we
have definitive confirmation of Starbucks’
commitment to no further support of the rodeo
industry.
The above statement indicates that Starbucks
has “asked” their marketing teams to halt support to
rodeo. Is this a merely a suggestion or is it an
unequivocal directive from Starbucks’ headquarters?
SHARK's further questioning of the company’s intent
in a
conversation with a Starbucks representative yielded
no further clarity, and in fact, confused the issue
even more.
Starbucks may still be trying to
have it both ways.
We need you to contact Starbucks yet
again in
response to their statement. Please ask that this
most recent response from Starbucks be made
extremely clear—Has the Starbucks Coffee
Company, and all its franchises, unequivocally
stopped all further affiliation with, and support to,
rodeos? You may wish to indicate that you’d
love to return to Starbucks coffee just as soon as
you receive written confirmation that the company
has done so. Then, please forward all responses on
to us here at SHARK (SharkIntl@aol.com).
We will rejoice together when we are confident that
one more subsidizer of animal abuse is out of that
business.
Then it will be--on to the next Corporate Thug!
Kindest Regards,
Steve Hindi and your SHARK Team
Starbucks Retail Customer Relations
(800) 235-2883, Press 0
Mon – Fri 5 AM – 6 PM (PST)
Sat – Sun 6 AM – 3 PM (PST)
To email Starbucks, please use the comment
page on
their website:
http://www.starbucks.com/customer/cont
a
ct_forms.asp?nav=3f
Please write, call, and fax Starbucks'
CEO:
ATTN: Mr. Jim Donald, CEO
Starbucks Corp.
2401 Utah Ave S
Seattle WA 98134
Phone: 206-447-1575
Fax: 206-447-0828
| Quick Links... |
|
|
