Starbucks Korea got hit with a huge backlash after launching a “Tank Day” promotion on May 18, the anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju Democratization Movement.
A lot of Koreans thought the campaign slogan and branding referenced the 1987 torture death cover up involving student activist Park Jong-cheol. Protests broke out almost immediately, activists smashed Starbucks products on camera, and even Lee Jae-myung publicly criticized the campaign.
The company pulled the promotion, apologized multiple times, and later replaced its Korean CEO, but the controversy kept growing as boycott calls spread and some local agencies stopped using Starbucks vouchers for official events.
South Korean Starbucks boss apologizes anew for ad campaign that evoked massacre
Seoul, South Korea — South Korean retail tycoon Chung Yong-jin on Tuesday issued his second apology in two weeks as Starbucks’ local operation faced a backlash over a recent marketing campaign that was widely perceived as mocking victims of a bloody military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1980.
Chung, chairman of Shinsegae Group, which owns a 67.5% stake in Starbucks Korea, bowed three times during a televised statement as he pleaded for forgiveness from the families of democracy activists killed by the country’s former military dictatorship and from the broader public.
The coffee chain sparked public outrage when it attempted to promote a large size of a tumbler it calls a “tank” by declaring May 18 to be “Tank Day.” That’s the anniversary of a democratic uprising in the southern city of Gwangju that was brutally suppressed by troops, tanks and helicopters, killing or injuring hundreds.
Starbucks Korea sacks CEO over controversial ‘Tank Day’ promotion