Cheat-Seeking Missles

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Some Reject Starbucks' Gay Cup

The next time you take your toddler to Starbucks for a hot chocolate, you may want to ask the barista not to use the cup with "The Way I See It #43" emblazoned on the side. That's the one with this quote from Armistead Maupin:

"My only regret about being gay
is that I repressed it for so long.
I surrendered my youth to the
people I feared when I could
have been out there loving
someone. Don't make that
mistake yourself. Life's too
damn short."

C-SM has been on Starbucks' case ever since a friend got that cup with his family one evening. Regrettably, Starbucks does not appear to see anything wrong with putting sexual content -- that's sexual content, not homosexual content, I really don't see any difference in this case -- on the side of a cup that is very likely to end up in the hands of a child.

Others do think it's a bad idea. Interestingly, the opposition to cup #43 is coming from college campuses, as acknowledged by Starbucks in an email to C-SM:
Dear Laer,

No, Starbucks has not removed any of our paper cups. As you may have seen on local news stations some of our kiosks located on college campuses have decided to remove all of our cups with quote # 43.

Thank you for contacting Starbucks. If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact us at info@starbucks.com or call (800) 23-LATTE to speak with a customer relations representative.

Best Regards,
Christine
Customer Relations Representative
Perhaps you'd like to suggest that Starbucks stop foisting sex on customers of all ages who just want a good cup of coffee, hot chocolate or chai, unaccompanied by someone's comments about his or her sex life. If so, Christine has been kind enough to provide you with her contact information.