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BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo

16 May 08 - 07:17 PM (#2342472)
Subject: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: JohnInKansas

Revealing Starbucks logo gets mixed reviews

Mermaid's makeover draws a response as coffee chain tries to break slump

By Mike Sunnucks
American City Business Journals
updated 5:16 p.m. CT, Fri., May. 16, 2008

Starbucks Corp. has a new more revealing logo of its trademark mermaid. The logo — which offers a more revealing look at the coffee chain's mermaid symbol and goes with brown instead of green as its color — is getting mixed reviews from marketing and public relations experts.

"It's unusual," said Sally Baker, who runs Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Great Ideas Public Relations. "I'm not sure most people will get it."
The logo features a bare-chested mermaid with her tail fin split in half. The previous green logo showed less of the mermaid.

A Christian group in San Diego called The Resistance is offended by the new logo and wants consumers to boycott or complain to the Seattle-based coffee chain.

The turbulent economy and sagging housing market have bitten into consumer confidence and Starbucks sales.

Richard Ettenson, a branding expert and international marketing professor at the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Ariz., said companies use logo changes to send messages to the greater marketplace.

"Logos and visual identities are all about sending signals to the marketplace. It appears the current logo change at Starbucks is an attempt to signal that it is not business as usual and that something a bit new and different is brewing at Starbucks," Ettenson said.
"The new logo achieves this without abandoning completely what is comfortable and familiar (the overall layout/design and the mermaid)," he said.

Some Arizona PR experts are taking the logo change a little less seriously.

"Seattle is known for people who like the peace pipe and this looks like the work of someone smoking some while watching 'A Fish Called Wanda' in the Pink Taco Restaurant," said Jason Rose, president of Scottsdale-based Rose & A

/quote

I can hardly wait to hear what the candidates have to say about this.

There is a picture of the new logo at the link, on a link to a video commentary by real news media people, I suppose.

Actually, the video is sort of cute, and also shows the obscene logo, so you can go straight to it here..

John

16 May 08 - 07:22 PM (#2342473)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: GUEST,Edt T

I don't shop there because it's overpriced.

Mermaid, seacow, who cares.

16 May 08 - 07:34 PM (#2342483)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: open mike

I think all self-respecting mermaids should protest their image being used to sell coffee. (unless it was marine-friendly, dolphin-safe and
organicly shade grown by co-operative farmers and sold by fair trade)

16 May 08 - 08:15 PM (#2342504)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: irishenglish

'Cos her hair was green as seaweed
Her skin was blue and pale
Her face it was a work of art
I loved that girl with all my heart
But I only liked the upper part
I did not like the tail

16 May 08 - 08:20 PM (#2342507)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Peace

How is she gonna drink coffee when she's using her hands to grab her tails?

16 May 08 - 08:22 PM (#2342508)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Peace

Clever however that her ti--uh, breasts are not pendulous. She won't be getting the nipples in the hot liquid, assuming she ever drops her tails to have a cuppa.

16 May 08 - 08:31 PM (#2342513)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Little Hawk

YAWNNNNN.....

This matters about as much as George Bush's taste in footwear.

16 May 08 - 08:34 PM (#2342514)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: JohnInKansas

LH - Congratulations on being the first one to see (or at least to enunciate) the point. (At least the one I had in mind.)

John

16 May 08 - 08:40 PM (#2342519)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Peace

But it DOES matter. THINK you guys. What will be next? Hell, we'll have dogs running around naked and you know where THAT could lead!

16 May 08 - 08:40 PM (#2342520)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Don Firth

Hell's bells!! It doesn't look any different from the logo I've seen around here (Seattle) for thirty-five years!

The video says this religious group maintains that it looks like a naked woman spreading her legs. Actually, it's a very old nautical drawing of a stylized mermaid (which ought to be obvious to anyone who isn't totally obsessed with sex). To me, it looks like a three-way collision between a bare-chested female bather and two fairly sizable codfish.

Be very careful!! These folks can tell when you're whistling dirty songs!

Don Firth

16 May 08 - 08:43 PM (#2342524)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: irishenglish

"From her head to her waist
She was just my taste
But the rest of her
Was a fish!"

16 May 08 - 08:45 PM (#2342528)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Peace

The cabin boy, the cabin boy
The dirty little nipper
Shoved broken glass up the first mate's ass
And circumcized the skipper.

16 May 08 - 08:46 PM (#2342529)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Little Hawk

They can tell when you're thinking dirty thoughts too, Don! This is bad. It means that you, me, and just about everyone else here is in big trouble!!!!!! ;-)

16 May 08 - 08:53 PM (#2342537)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Stilly River Sage

If she had a comb and a glass in her hand they wouldn't be able to sell their coffee anywhere near the Washington State ferry system.

SRS

16 May 08 - 09:05 PM (#2342551)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Peace

So instead, in each hand she has a piece of tail . . . .

16 May 08 - 09:05 PM (#2342552)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Peace

Let me rephrase that.

16 May 08 - 09:07 PM (#2342555)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Little Hawk

She is clearly of two minds.

16 May 08 - 09:08 PM (#2342557)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Peace

Has anyone noticed that she's not biologically accurate?

16 May 08 - 09:14 PM (#2342562)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Jeri

It was some sailor's fantasy and the original logo was originally focused in because of that whole split tail thing. I think an aroused sailor might be a bit perplexed by an anatomically correct mermaid.

16 May 08 - 09:19 PM (#2342567)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Little Hawk

I'll say. He'd be all dressed up, but no place to go.

16 May 08 - 09:19 PM (#2342568)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Peace

OH!

Well, I can understand that. I checked Google Images. WHEW! Talk about yer X-rated logos . . . .

16 May 08 - 09:21 PM (#2342569)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Mooh

What a bunch of fuckheads. Seriously, what does it matter outside of the rarefied arena of logo designers? Hey, it's a mermaid, so what!

Maybe women shouldn't walk down the street if spreading their legs is so controversial.

What a bunch of dickheads.

16 May 08 - 09:22 PM (#2342572)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Little Hawk

Pretty shocking, eh? Avert your eyes when entering (the restaurant)!

16 May 08 - 11:42 PM (#2342629)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: GUEST,Q as guest

Just looked at a package of beans, never really noticed the mernaid before. She is the old model, hourglass figure, no nipples.
This reminds me to go to a Starbucks tomorrow and restock.

The company is tidying up a bit. The branch in my closest Safeway has gone dark, but the larger Safeway in a better mall still has an operating Starbucks. There is a full franchise Starbucks in the same mall, so the one in the Safeway may go before too long. The idea of putting them in groceries may have been a stretch too far.

17 May 08 - 12:29 AM (#2342636)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Joe Offer

I dunno. I have no moral objection to the new "old" logo, but I prefer the simplicity of the familiar one, and I think it's a classic of design. I guess I never actually recognized it as a mermaid before, but I like it. I don't know that I thought out the story behind the Morton Salt logo for years, but I like it - and I didn't like attempts to revise it.

When a company has a logo that's simple, attractive to the eye, and immediately recognizable - why risk changing to something new? Campbell's Soup, Arm & Hammer, Heinz Ketchup, Tide detergent, Ivory Soap, Procter and Gamble, Coke & Pepsi, Aunt Jemima, Betty Crocker, Wheaties, Cheerios, Rice Crispies, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Golden Arches, Budweiser - those logos are worth billions. I'm sure all of you recognize most of those designs right off.

-Joe-

17 May 08 - 01:36 AM (#2342649)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: JohnInKansas

'Way back when, there were distinctive logos for individual products as well as for corporations. I remember with fond sadness the pictures that used to be on the ends of the wooden crates in which our neighborhood grocer got his lettuce, grapes, etc. For a susceptible 7 y.o. some of those were "fine art."

A quick image search via Google for "cigar box art" fails to bring up any of the brands I remember my uncles used to smoke, but those were some "pretty hot stuff" for a youngster, although I don't recall any complaint from the (old) ladies about the logos - only about the stink. (My uncles didn't smoke "pricey" cigars.)

The "stereotype" design I remember makes me think, every time I see it, that the painting Eva Prima Pandora done in 1550 by Jean Cousin the Elder (France 1495 - 1560) was made to be on a cigar box, although I don't really remember seeing that specific work on one.

An apparent current fad in "cigar box handbags" shows some "simulations" using badly reproduced art(?) in the "style of" some of the old boxes, but I didn't find any good representative real logos of ones I remember.

John

17 May 08 - 01:50 AM (#2342653)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: catspaw49

Gas is approaching 5 bucks a gallon and I should give a shit about their lousy coffee or their logo? Fuck 'em.............btw, gas in Saudi Arabia is 65 cents. Why don't we threaten their culture with the idea of building hundreds of Starbucks with monstrous anatomically correct mermaids prominently displayed by huge statues at each one unless they send us oil for $35 a barrel. If that don't work maybe we just invade their ass. The army is already over there anyway, fuckin' around in Iraq, ya' know?

Spaw

17 May 08 - 02:16 AM (#2342666)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: JohnInKansas

Spaw -

That ain't a new idea. We've already sent cheerleaders to India, to show their local teams how to set up their own squads. Watch for the spread to other nations.

We shouldn't make them drink bad coffee until they're at least slightly acclimated to some of our other "progressive habits."

John

17 May 08 - 03:28 AM (#2342688)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Liz the Squeak

Oh Puleeeeeeseee!!!

There are far better reasons to boycott Morebucks than not liking the picture very much...

You know, it's christians like those that give Christians a bad name.

It's true people, the Apocolypse is nigh!

LTS

17 May 08 - 03:50 AM (#2342694)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: gnu

I wonder how much Starbucks is paying for the outrage. Bet it's pretty cheap advertising.

17 May 08 - 04:56 AM (#2342713)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Micca

Well you know what they say "one mans meat is another mans poisson"

17 May 08 - 05:48 AM (#2342733)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Teribus

If that is all these clowns have got to complain about then their world must be in pretty good shape.

17 May 08 - 06:22 AM (#2342742)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Becca72

Some people are just looking for things to be offended by.

I don't go to Starbucks because it's crap coffee...has nothing to do with the logo.

17 May 08 - 07:18 AM (#2342774)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Bobert

Where's John Aschroft when we need him the most???

(((grin)))

B~

17 May 08 - 10:15 AM (#2342847)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Charley Noble

That image of a mermaid has been making the rounds for at least 150 years. I last saw a version in John Ashton's REAL-SAILOR SONGS, © 1891.

There certainly are more sexy images of mermaids available on-line if that were the point. Certainly the cover art for ON THE ROCKS, a Johnson Girls CD, is more sexy to my mind.

I do hope that the Christian group Resistance who are credited with making the original complaint have rechecked their current inventory of biblical images to make sure "everything" is appropriately draped or covered with foliage.

Charley Noble

17 May 08 - 10:56 AM (#2342873)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: GUEST,Neptune

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Mermaid tail Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
pant pant pant

17 May 08 - 11:06 AM (#2342880)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Rasener

Looks to me like two fish muff diving the mermaid

I'll get me cod piece

17 May 08 - 11:20 AM (#2342886)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: frogprince

I've got the muff diver's blu - u -ues, sing my baby said goodby;
Lord, I don't know what I'll do - o o, all I do is sit and cry...

17 May 08 - 09:15 PM (#2343254)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Joe Offer

Well, I told you I like the familiar Starbucks logo. Well, I liked it so much that I wrote to Starbucks to plead for its life. Turns out it's only a temporary logo change, and that the simpler logo will return on everything but the Pike's Place Roast coffee.
Also, not that this isn't just any mermaid - Starbucks refers to her as a Siren.
I'm glad my familiar Siren is here to stay.
-Joe-

Here's the text of their e-mail:

17 May 08 - 10:24 PM (#2343305)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Bee-dubya-ell

I'm intrigued by the "split-tail" siren image. In the more commonly seen type of image, the mermaid's transition from human to fish begins at her waist, meaning she would most likely have fish genitalia. The split-tail version would likely have human genitalia. The implication is that a horny sailor could have sex with the split-tail siren in a normal fashion, whereas having sex with the more conventionally seen type of mermaid pretty much equates to fucking fish.

17 May 08 - 10:30 PM (#2343311)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Joe Offer

Are we moving from coffee to bestiality here??? Do we really want to go there, Bee-dubya-ell? Describing it that way, ruins all my mermaid fantasies...

18 May 08 - 12:02 AM (#2343361)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: GUEST,Q as guest

Thanks, Joe, I prefer the old one. Dunno if I will try their new blend with the old Seattle name. Restocked our coffee beans. Currently Guatemala antigua. Great coffee! Glad to have Starbucks in Canada, much better than that horrible Tim Horton's stuff.

Lets see, in recent memory, this must be the 3rd- or is it 4th thread- that we have discussed or cussed the mermaid company.

18 May 08 - 10:25 AM (#2343581)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Bonzo3legs

Typical raving USAian religeous cranks.

18 May 08 - 04:11 PM (#2343802)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Liz the Squeak

Perhaps they should read this article. Scroll down far enough and you see the mermaid holding a comb and mirror - she's been on the ceiling of an abbey for the last 600 years.

LTS

18 May 08 - 05:24 PM (#2343878)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Herga Kitty

Meat or fish (Rawtenstall Annual Fair)....?

Kitty

18 May 08 - 07:11 PM (#2343960)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: TheSnail

They could try something based on this.

18 May 08 - 07:17 PM (#2343965)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: SINSULL

I agree with Liz - crap coffee and at 7AM all I want to order is coffee black not Sri Lankan beans medium grind with fat free cream and no foam.

18 May 08 - 09:28 PM (#2344022)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: meself

I read the article LTS linked - I'm afraid I'm going to have to join the boycott now ...

19 May 08 - 03:03 AM (#2344140)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: JohnInKansas

At the article that LTS linked, I'm offended (boo hoo) that while they identified the poet, they omitted credit to the painter.

This mermaid is well known:

The Artist:
John William Waterhouse
England
Victorian Romanticism
b.1849 - d.1917

A brief bio, and the first 10 of 90 of his paintings at the site can be found at the link.

The painting:
A Mermaid
1901, Oil on canvas,
38.58 x 26.38 inches / 98 x 67 cm
The Royal Academy of Arts,
London, England

Appears in a very good quality image (for a web collection) at Page 2 (at the bottom of the page) at the above site. Click the thumbnail to open a larger version in a new window.

He's not actually one of my "most favorite" artists, but deserves to be credited - especially [IMO] when his works are used for commercial purposes.

John

19 May 08 - 03:31 AM (#2344153)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Melissa

Waterhouse mermaid...guitar:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Luna-Fantasie-Mermaid-Small-Auditorium-Cutaway-Acoustic-Electric-Guitar?sku=516102

19 May 08 - 10:20 AM (#2344360)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Les from Hull

I would never go into any of these multinational megacorps outlets if there is any choice. I would much prefer a small, local concern.

Anyway Rene Magritte had a different view click 'ere

19 May 08 - 10:59 AM (#2344379)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Jack Blandiver

Perhaps they should read this article. Scroll down far enough and you see the mermaid holding a comb and mirror - she's been on the ceiling of an abbey for the last 600 years.

Interesting, but way off when it comes to Sheela na Gigs! See The Sheela na Gig Project for a more enlightened overview...

19 May 08 - 11:00 AM (#2344380)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Jack Blandiver

The Sheela na Gig Project

19 May 08 - 11:40 AM (#2344404)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: meself

Re: the Sheela na Gig Project: "quasi-erotic"? Even "quasi" is a bit of a stretch, isn't it? I've seen some unlikely images on the internet that apparently have erotic appeal for somebody, but this takes the cake ... !

19 May 08 - 01:55 PM (#2344490)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Ernest

The really improtant question is:

Does their coffee taste like fish???????

19 May 08 - 10:59 PM (#2344845)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: open mike

These Resistance folks sure caused a lot more people to checkout
that image..do you suppose they are getting a commission?

It is like the Christian ministry giving life to satan by keeping
his name alive and mentioning him often. Whose side are they on,
any way?

19 May 08 - 11:11 PM (#2344853)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Little Hawk

It's like a barking dog, they just can't help themselves.

20 May 08 - 05:59 AM (#2344987)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Liz the Squeak

Ah, but those Sheil na gigs are on the OUTSIDE of religious buildings where they put the gargoyles - that mermaid in Sherborne is on the inside and is very well endowed... albeit with a 42 long instead of a 38D.

LTS

20 May 08 - 04:49 PM (#2345505)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: The Vulgar Boatman

And what, pray, is an "anatomically correct mermaid"? Talking of which, why is there so much power in the hands of a bunch of duckwits who deny the fossil record anyway.
There appear to be some who still believe it's possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

20 May 08 - 05:09 PM (#2345517)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: GUEST,Chief Chaos

I say Boycott until they move her damn hair out of the way!

Why should they bow to the pressure of the so called "moral majority"?

20 May 08 - 06:36 PM (#2345585)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: EBarnacle

Micca, the complete quote is:

One man's meat is another man's poison,
My favorite car is an Avions Voison.
Ogden Nash

The whole tempest is further evidence that there is no bad publicity.

21 May 08 - 10:38 AM (#2346078)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Kim C

I don't think the new logo is obscene as much as it is just plain ugly.

21 May 08 - 03:28 PM (#2346311)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: GUEST,VO

I agree. But it's as good an excuse as any for me to boycott them anyways: I've always hated their coffee.

21 May 08 - 03:46 PM (#2346321)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Kim C

Technically speaking, if Starbucks is named after Starbuck from Moby Dick, then maybe the logo should be a whale. Just a thought.

21 May 08 - 04:51 PM (#2346365)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: open mike

if you want whales with you coffee get this one'
http://store.thanksgivingcoffee.com/product_info?products_id=118

21 May 08 - 10:19 PM (#2346554)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: GUEST,MeepTheSheep

That's a Melusine! They are a type of siren and are different to your common or garden mermaid because of those two tails they seem to have.
http://altreligion.about.com/library/glossary/symbols/bldefsmelusine.htm

I like the picture at the bottom of the article ... so that's how Starbucks get their coffee, is it?

21 May 08 - 11:57 PM (#2346598)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Don Firth

The latté, perhaps.

Don Firth

01 Jul 08 - 09:19 PM (#2378733)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: JohnInKansas

Apparently the new logo wasn't enough:

Starbucks to close 600 stores in the U.S.

Company greatly increases plans for store closures amid weak economy
By Allison Linn
Senior writer
updated 5:29 p.m. CT, Tues., July. 1, 2008

The old joke that there's a Starbucks on every corner may soon not ring quite as true.

Starbucks Corp. said Tuesday that it has drastically increased the number of stores it plans to close and could eliminate as many as 12,000 full- and part-time positions as a result.

The company said it now plans to close 600 company-operated stores in the United States, up from its previous plans to close 100 stores.
Starbucks also said it will open fewer than 200 stores in its coming fiscal year, which begins Sept. 29. That's down from a previous target of opening 250 stores during that period.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said the job cuts represent about 7 percent of Starbucks' global workforce. Still, Starbucks said it expects many workers to find jobs in nearby stores.

The Seattle-based gourmet coffee retailer said in a conference call with analysts that the stores it decided to close were not profitable and that many had opened in the last few years. In addition, Chief Financial Officer Pete Bocian said the vast majority were located close to another Starbucks store.

The closures will account for 8 percent of all company-operated U.S. stores, and will leave the company with about 6,600 U.S. outlets, Bocian said. He said the stores closings will begin in late July and are expected to happen over a period of months.

There are currently more than 16,000 Starbucks stores worldwide.

/quote: more at the link

John

01 Jul 08 - 09:36 PM (#2378741)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: The Fooles Troupe

"There are currently more than 16,000 Starbucks stores worldwide."

I think there are about 12 in the CBD of Brisbane - Oz...

01 Jul 08 - 11:26 PM (#2378802)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Bee-dubya-ell

There are two Starbucks in Pensacola, Florida so close together that you can stand in the parking lot of either and plainly see the sign for the other. Somehow, the term "oversaturation" comes to mind.

01 Jul 08 - 11:56 PM (#2378811)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Bert

I don't by Starbucks because it is the worst coffee that I have ever tasted. And that includes the time I was driving throught the night to Alabama and stopped at a filling station around two in the moirning. I went in and filled a cup of coffee and the woman said "do you ant me to make you a fresh pot, that has been stewing for hours. I said no, that is just what I need right now." It was Baaaad bud not nearly as bad as the one and only cup of fresh Starbucks I have ever had.

Don, you say...(which ought to be obvious to anyone who isn't totally obsessed with sex).

I ask - Is there such a person??? ;-)

02 Jul 08 - 03:27 AM (#2378864)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: GUEST,JTT

Sounds fishy, all right.

Terrible coffee, but delicious cinnamints, which they don't sell on this side of the Atlantic, the nasty people.

It's really kind of those Christians to give us a much-needed laugh in these gloomy and recessionary times.

02 Jul 08 - 07:56 AM (#2378973)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Mr Red

I do avoid Starbucks. But it has more to do with individuality. I am not a number.

an iffy cup of coffee in an establishment that reflects the owner is preferrable to a corporate formula. And the taste is more to my liking - but I only have one or two samples to compare.

02 Jul 08 - 08:53 AM (#2379010)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Rapparee

Man oh man! When I first saw that new logo I right away wanted to go out and screw a fish.

Some people have too much time on their hands and too much sex on their minds....

02 Jul 08 - 09:47 AM (#2379043)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Jeri

Remember the couple in 'A Mighty Wind' who both worked in Starbuck--across the street from one another?

It really is a sort of joke. They're as ubiquitous as MickeyD's and way more expensive. No, I don't pay that much for coffee. I buy Peet's, which is expensive but still work out to less than $1 per cup.

Starbuck's could stand to scale down a bit.

02 Jul 08 - 09:53 AM (#2379053)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: irishenglish

I think that is literally about to happen Jeri.

02 Jul 08 - 10:00 AM (#2379061)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: irishenglish

By that I mean that they just announced a downsizing and a closing of 600 stores.

02 Jul 08 - 10:48 AM (#2379124)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Jeri

Yep, I got that from the message from JohnInKansas that revived this two-month old thread.

02 Jul 08 - 10:51 AM (#2379131)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: irishenglish

Shoot, my bad-didn't scroll up far enough. Said Gilda Radner-Never mind!

02 Jul 08 - 11:21 AM (#2379157)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: EBarnacle

I currently go to my local Borders book store to read books and converse with friends as well as holding business meetings.

Borders will soon be taken over by Barnes and Noble, which has Starbucks as their inhouse cafe. One characteristic of Starbucks is that, as long as you have a Starbucks card with $5 on it, you have free wireless access.

A $2 extra large cup of tea for those benefits seems fair to me.

03 Jul 08 - 06:36 AM (#2379864)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: GUEST,lox

I was chatting to a guy fom just near bangalore recently about the price of a cup of tea in the UK.

He works in the tea Kiosk at Leicester railway station where you can buy a regular tea for the princely sum of £1.80.

In India you can buy a cup of chai for 2 rupees from a station vendor.

There are 80 rupees to a pound.

So a cup of tea in a uk station is about 144 rupees.

Many Indian agricultural workers earn about 50 or 60 rupees a day.

The campaign against the mermaid is as offensive if not more so than starbucks prices.

03 Jul 08 - 02:37 PM (#2380321)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity

Starbucks prices are far more obscene than their logo. Gasp!!..A cartoon, too revealing????...you guys are really whacked!

03 Jul 08 - 03:36 PM (#2380363)
Subject: RE: BS: Boycott Starbucks for Obscene New Logo
From: Jeri

Nobody got my 'scale down' pun. It was pretty lame though.

I didn't know about the the wireless.