The Christians and the red #Starbucks cup kerfuffle

I’ve not looked too deeply into the precise origin of the notion that plain red cup wrappers instead of red cup wrappers with snowflakes are an attack on Christmas, but I’ve picked up enough here and there to be satisfied that it’s not as presented.

It’s viral marketing, or a joke, or something similar. The stated purpose and the real purpose don’t match. Whether or not “outraged” Christians ran with the notion, it didn’t start with an outraged Christian. It started with an attention-seeker. (And I wouldn’t be surprised to learn in the coming days that the effort was at least partially intended to make Christians look bad.)

Well, mission accomplished.

If you’re wound up about these stupid cups because you perceive them as an attack on Jesus, then to be kind, you’re being rather impertinent.

Jesus told us over and over what was important to Him. Do you realize that nearly everything He said boils down to either “Follow Me” or “Love one another”?

From where, then, does the perception spring that a coffee company is coming after your most cherished beliefs, and it is your holy duty to stand athwart them, duly outraged?

If you’re really upset about these cups, then don’t be such a tool. Use some discretion in choosing where and how to express your discontent. You look ridiculous bloviating about this silly thing that does not matter.

You might also like:

7 thoughts on “The Christians and the red #Starbucks cup kerfuffle”

  1. It’s so ridiculous! If Starbucks hated Christmas, why would they sell “Christmas Blend” coffee every year, and why do they sell Advent calendars? Everyone is looking to be offended by SOMETHING or maybe even ANYTHING.
    Offense creates barriers and barriers destroy the relationships we are supposed to have with one another. You can’t love a person or show them the love of Christ if you’ve built a wall to hide from them.

    Reply
    • Well, there is that. I might have been in a Starbucks seven times in my life. What I drink is usually good, but my order is “large black coffee.”

      Reply
  2. At this point… I’ve yet to see anyone I even remotely know actually express the opinion that the cups are anti-Christmas. It seems more and more that the few who sewed the seeds of this uprising were a very very select few. They seem to have gotten just the right type of attention to let all things social media go crazy and viral about it… And all of the actual rage is against the “masses” that were supposedly made about the cups. Almost like a bait and switch hysteria.

    85% this was Starbucks marketing at work. I applaud them for their crafty manipulation of human emotion. I’m not going to go out of my way to get one of their drinks now though… I very rarely ever get anything from there… pretty much only a Salted Carmel Hot Chocolate and they almost never have salt in stock (really!?! that’s something you guys are that limited on…)

    Reply

Leave a Comment

CAPTCHA


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

BoWilliams.com