If you're on the long list of Starbucks lovers, chances are you're also on the lookout for the company's yearly holiday coffee cup designs. But this 2015, Starbucks dropped Christmas' most iconic designs like holiday trees, snowflakes and reindeers in favor of a signature but red holiday shade, which angered many Christians.
Starbucks is famous for spreading Christmas cheer during the holidays with their cup designs. But one Christian, former Arizona pastor and internet personality Joshua Feuerstein, finds no joy in the coffee company's 2015 signature coffee cup. In a video posted on Facebook, Feuerstein tells why.
Feuerstein starts by stating that Starbucks wanted to take Christ and Christmas off of their brand new cups, which explains the plain red design this year. He added that Starbucks employees aren't even allowed to say 'Merry Christmas' to customers. The evangelist decided that instead of just boycotting, he went on and 'pranked' Starbucks by ordering and stating that his name is 'Merry Christmas'.
He wore a shirt with the face of Christ printed on the front during his prank visit and even carried his small pistol inside the store to challenge CEO Howard Schultz' no firearms inside the stores policy. Starbucks' CEO had asked customers to refrain from bringing firearms into the stores even in states where open carry is legal. Feuerstein encouraged other Christians to not only share the video but to join the movement by taking a coffee selfie with their plain red Starbucks coffee cups, upload it on social media and use hashtag #MerryChristmasStarbucks.
"Starbucks removed Christmas from their cups because they hate Jesus," said Feuerstein in the video that had gone viral with over 11 million views to date. Conservative website Breitbart News fanned the flame by calling the plain design a 'war on Christmas'. Photos of people holding their plain red cups with handwritten 'Merry Christmas' are popping up in social media.
"This year we wanted to usher in the holidays with a purity of design that welcomes all of our stories," said Starbucks' Vice President of Design and Content Jeffrey Fields. This year, the coffee company wanted a more inclusive holiday design.
In a statement, the coffee company said the plain red cups were positioned to be a 'blank canvas' that inspires "customers to tell their Christmas stories in their own way." The plain red design is meant to inspire a culture of diversity and feeling of belongingness". Unfortunately, some Christians just saw red, took it as an assault on Christmas and as part of a Christian culture cleansing in the United States.
