Starbucks CEO’s Soul-Searching Post Ignites Controversy Amid Boycotts
For the first time ever, Starbucks, one of the most popular coffee chains in the world, is at an “inflection point.” For months now, it has been battered by ongoing boycotts as the coffee shop is known to allegedly support Israel.
Losing revenue across the world, its former CEO Howard Schultz wanted to attempt to play at the globe’s heartstrings by sharing a LinkedIn post all about the company entering a soul-searching phase.
In the post, he shares a letter he wrote titled “The Soul of a Brand,” which discusses how the company is at a crossroads. However, that shouldn’t be unnerving, as a lot of companies pass through that phase.
To him, this is an opportunity that can be seized to re-invent the company. It’s a stepping stone to rediscover its “soul.”
Such a post caused a major stir with many of its ex-employees, including Lisa Burgess, Dirk Bedeaux, and so on, celebrating his words and the spirit of the company. On the other side of the coin are the ones who were unable to digest Schultz’s words.
A store manager for Lush, Matthew Copeland, was one of the many who attacked the post. He said, “ascribing a soul to a multi-billion dollar company that has some very dubious moral practices is laughable, but people will eat this right up.”
With such a post, Schultz is attempting to better the name of Starbucks amidst the controversy. Now that it’s in the public eye, it’s unclear how his post will affect the company in the long run and how people will perceive the coffee chain.
