I've posted this before, so I apologize if the story is repetitious: when I lived in Seattle (1974-1979), Starbucks was a little coffee shop on Marion Street off of 1st Avenue that only sold whole bean coffee...and the shop was full of coffee bags and smelled wonderful. I think it was owned by a guy named Starbuck, but I have no idea if he's still associated with the company. He/they found a market nitch and have been fabulously successful in exploiting it.

Our local Starbucks (which I visit rarely...I also find their coffee weak and prefer a local shop) sells Fair Trade coffee, both in the bean and brewed, and has posters on the walls advertising it. The availability of soy milk is also prominently noted.

It seems to me that the folks protesting Starbucks are picking on them because of their visibility rather than anything else. I certainly don't see anybody picketing our local Albertsons because they sell Folgers and Maxwell House, but I would be astounded to find out that those brands don't sell 100 times as much coffee as Starbucks does.