Starbucks Korea boss apologises for controversial ad following serious backlash
Retail tycoon and South Korean Starbucks boss, Chung Yong-jin, has issued an apology following backlash from a marketing campaign seemingly mocking victims of a 1980s massacre.
The coffee house made headlines earlier this month after announcing that 18 May, the anniversary of a democratic uprising in the southern city of Gwangju, where South Korea’s former military dictatorship killed activists using troops and tanks, would be called ‘Tank Day’ in honour of its new ‘tank’ tumbler.
The merch was shared alongside the controversial slogan ‘thwack it on the table’, which many perceived to be a reference to an attempted police cover-up of the death and torture of student activist Park Jong-chol in 1987.
At the time, law enforcement claimed the campaigner had suddenly died after investigators had ‘hit the desk with a thwack’.
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In a social media post, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said he was ‘enraged’ by the ‘Tank Day’ campaign, calling it ‘inhumane and disgraceful behaviour by cheap profiteers’.
He alleged it tarnished the bloody protests of Gwangju citizens and the victims of the protests’.
Meanwhile, the Gwangju-Jeonnam Memorial Coalition called it a ‘malicious mockery’, adding: "We strongly suspect this is the result of management's biased historical consciousness ... being cunningly expressed through the mask of marketing.”
Shinsegae Group, which owns a 67.5 percent stake in Starbucks South Korea, pulled the promotion within hours of the backlash, insisting it did not mean to cause any offence.
On Tuesday (26 May), Chung said that he is taking the fact that ‘many people felt deep pain and anger’ extremely seriously.
Slamming the Starbucks campaign as ‘inappropriate’, the businessman requested that people do not take out their frustration on staff members, claiming the responsibility lies with management.
Starbucks South Korea marketing employees have denied that they intended to mock the pro-democracy movement with their promotional materials, as per ABC News.
Sky News reported that Chung said the company had suffered a ‘very significant’ drop in sales.
Meanwhile, Shinsegae has fired the head of Starbucks South Korea, the outlet reported.
Starbucks Global has also apologised amid the backlash, claiming that an investigation is underway.
Police have also reportedly opened an investigation based on complaints by families of people killed at Gwangju, ABC News wrote.
Jeon Sangjin, a senior Shinsegae Group executive, said the company would look at the results from the police inquiry, and any employee found to have intended to ridicule protesters would be fired.
Ella Scott