Close X
Sunday, November 17, 2024
ADVT 
National

Starbucks Touts Its Christmas Blend After Trump Suggests Boycott Over Plain Red Holiday Cups

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 10 Nov, 2015 12:43 PM
    WASHINGTON — Starbucks is pushing back against suggestions stoked by Republican presidential contender Donald Trump that this year's minimalist design for its holiday cups is a slap at Christmas.
     
    Responding to questions about the cups, the Seattle-based coffee purveyor on Tuesday touted its "exclusive Christmas Blend Vintage 2015" — one of several Christmas-themed products available in its stores.
     
    On its website, Starbucks pointedly said it was introducing the blend on behalf of its 300,000 employees "from diverse ethnic backgrounds who proudly wear our green apron."
     
    Some religious conservatives have expressed anger over the coffee company's holiday season cups, which this year are a minimalist all-red design with no images aside from the company's green and white logo.
     
    Previous years' cups have featured snowflakes and winter scenes as well as occasional Christmas ornaments. A small number of critics have objected to the design choice, seeing it as part of a larger movement away from exclusively Christian-themed holiday decorations.
     
     
    Trump piled on Monday when he suggested boycotting the company at a rally in Springfield, Illinois.
     
    "Did you read about Starbucks? No more Merry Christmas on Starbucks," Trump told a capacity crowd of thousands gathered to hear him speak at a rally ahead of Tuesday night's GOP debate.
     
    "Maybe we should boycott Starbucks. I don't know," he said. "Seriously, I don't care."
     
    Trump, who has been trying to court evangelical and other conservative Christian voters, has often bemoaned the use of the phrase "Happy Holidays" in place of "Merry Christmas" to cater to non-Christians who don't celebrate the holiday.
     
    He said on Monday that: "If I become president, we're all going to be saying, 'Merry Christmas' again. That I can tell you."
     
    In response to questions about Trump's criticism, Starbucks spokeswoman Sanja Gould noted that the company's Christmas blend was available in 23,000 stores in 70 countries starting Tuesday.
     
     
    She also directed reporters to several pages on the company's website listing various Christmas-branded coffee blends, as well as "Ugly Sweater" and frosted snowman cookies.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Auto Sector Says Harper's $1-billion Pledge Key To Industry's Post-TPP Survival

    Auto Sector Says Harper's $1-billion Pledge Key To Industry's Post-TPP Survival
    Harper announced that a re-elected Conservative government would provide a $1-billion package over a decade by extending the government's Automotive Innovation Fund.

    Auto Sector Says Harper's $1-billion Pledge Key To Industry's Post-TPP Survival

    Richard Oland Crime Scene Was Among Bloodiest Officer Had Seen: Court Hears

    Richard Oland Crime Scene Was Among Bloodiest Officer Had Seen: Court Hears
    Sgt. Mark Smith is facing cross-examination today in the second-degree murder trial of Dennis Oland in New Brunswick's Court of Queen's Bench.

    Richard Oland Crime Scene Was Among Bloodiest Officer Had Seen: Court Hears

    Conservatives Dump Jagdish Grewal Who Supported Therapies To Turn Gay Youth Straight

    Conservatives Dump Jagdish Grewal Who Supported Therapies To Turn Gay Youth Straight
    Jagdish Grewal, who is running in Mississauga-Malton, wrote an editorial entitled "Is it wrong for a homosexual to become a normal person?" that referred to homosexuality as "unnatural behaviour" and heterosexuals as "normal."

    Conservatives Dump Jagdish Grewal Who Supported Therapies To Turn Gay Youth Straight

    CBC TV Show Gets Man New Crack At Lawsuit Against Job-promising Agency

    CBC TV Show Gets Man New Crack At Lawsuit Against Job-promising Agency
    In what the Appeal Court called "most unusual" circumstances, the justices said a lower court was wrong to deny Golam Mehedi a chance to reopen his case given the post-trial broadcast.

    CBC TV Show Gets Man New Crack At Lawsuit Against Job-promising Agency

    Crash Complicates Canadian Tour Of Country Singer Jason Aldean

    Crash Complicates Canadian Tour Of Country Singer Jason Aldean
    Aldean's 2015 Burn It Down tour played in Kamloops, B.C., on Monday night and was headed to a Tuesday performance in Prince George, when all those cliches about trucks, dirt roads and disaster played out.

    Crash Complicates Canadian Tour Of Country Singer Jason Aldean

    Underground Lab In Nickel Mine In Sudbury, Ont., Probes Mysterious Neutrinos

    Underground Lab In Nickel Mine In Sudbury, Ont., Probes Mysterious Neutrinos
    It's called SNOLAB, a cavernous "clean" lab that was able to detect minuscule particles known as neutrinos. 

    Underground Lab In Nickel Mine In Sudbury, Ont., Probes Mysterious Neutrinos