It is likely no coincidence that since Starbucks announced it would hire 10,000 refugees in response to President Trump’s executive order targeting immigration, the company’s popularity has taken a huge hit.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz had released a statement in which he said:
Let me begin with the news that is immediately in front of us: we have all been witness to the confusion, surprise and opposition to the Executive Order that President Trump issued on Friday, effectively banning people from several predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States, including refugees fleeing wars . . . There are more than 65 million citizens of the world recognized as refugees by the United Nations, and we are developing plans to hire 10,000 of them over five years in the 75 countries around the world where Starbucks does business.
As Jazz Shaw points out at Hot Air, “According to Yahoo Finance, the company’s popularity as measured by the YouGov Brand Index rankings has completely tanked.”
Yahoo Finance reported:
The coffee giant’s consumer perception levels have fallen by two-thirds since late January, according to YouGov BrandIndex. The perception tracker measures if respondents have “heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative.” In Starbucks’ case, perception is still overall positive, but significantly lower than it was prior to CEO Howard Schultz published a public letter outlining the company’s plans to give refugees jobs.
In 2015, Starbucks initiated their “Race Together” initiative, in which baristas would discuss racism with customers; the program was quickly shelved, as Fortune reported:
Less than a week after Starbucks announced its ambitious “Race Together” initiative aimed at stoking dialog about the hot-button issue, the coffee company is ending a key part of the program. As of Sunday, baristas will no longer be writing the words “Race Together” (or placing stickers) on cups they hand customers as a signal to start a chat about one of the most polarizing issues in American life, an effort meant as a centerpiece for the broader and longer term program but one widely ridiculed on social meeting after it was announced last week.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Starbucks’ sales had suffered.