Headlines

Starbucks Pulls Ad Posters

Side-by-side cups, flying object and 'collapse' tag line were felt to be too close to images of Sept

Published

22 years ago

June 18, 2002

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Starbucks Coffee Co. (Seattle) announced it was removing promotional posters for its tea drinks from more than 3000 retail outlets because the picture of the drinks side by side had been said to recall the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The posters, hung on the walls of standalone Starbucks retail outlets in the United States and Canada in April, show containers of the two tea drinks, with a dragonfly hovering to the left and the headline “Collapse into Cool.”

A New York Post reporter contacted the company following up on a reader's complaint, said a Starbucks spokeswoman, reiterating that the company itself had received no customer complaints. But, she said, the company had intended no link between the image of the beverages and the terror attacks. “As a responsible company, we want to ensure that nobody is offended.”

The posters were due to be removed at the end of June.