After a widely lauded crisis response to a racial incident in a Philadelphia location, Starbucks is dealing with the PR scourge of the modern era: fake news.
The coffee chain announced it would close thousands of its stores for a day of racial sensitivity training after two black men were arrested, an incident that ignited a crisis for the brand. Now, internet trolls are hoping to stir the pot with fake coupons for Starbucks customers of color.
One coupon says -- “We’re sorry... We know we can do better. Starbucks values all people and we are working on employee sensitivity training.”At the bottom it says one free beverage, and near the bar code, it says “people of color only.”
There are other versions of the freebie popping up as well.
One promotion blames "Russian internet trolls" for the first coupon and goes on to say, “although this started as a hoax, after mountains of positive feedback on social media, we’ve decided to make it a reality… we will be providing all of our customers one free beverage of their choice in addition to 50 percent off all food items.”
Another ad says, “the best dialogue starts over a cup of coffee and we’d like to buy you one.”
The fake ads use coded language from alt-right and white supremacist groups, and they have been promoted by websites affiliated with those movements.
Baristas are instructed to use discount code 1488, the combination of two numbers that have become symbols of white supremacy. The QR code for the coupon links to a website page that translates the code as the n-word.Among the accounts sharing the fake coupon were Gab, a social network known for its popularity among far-right figures that have been banned from other platforms, and Daryush "Roosh V" Valizadeh, a controversial pick-up artist and blogger.
This isn’t the first time that Starbucks has been the target of fake coupons and internet trolls.
[WEBCAST: Prepare, protect and promote your organization and brand in a climate of crisis.]
In August, fake coupons for a “Dreamer Day” at the coffee shop began to circulate, saying undocumented immigrants would be entitled to a 40 percent discount on coffee. The coupons, which also appeared to originate on 4chan, used the hashtag “#borderfreecoffee.” Starbucks debunked the hoax on Twitter. The company has previously been a target for conservatives who believe the company’s holiday cups are too nondenominational.
The fake campaign, seemingly promoting a shared conversation between the company and customers of diverse backgrounds, is reminiscent of a real Starbucks campaign that was much derided.
The Washington Post continued:
In 2015, the company launched “Race Together,” an initiative to encourage customers and employees to discuss race while they waited for their drinks. Baristas were encouraged to write “Race Together” on coffee cups. An internal memo instructed stores to post “conversation starters” at the register, including prompts for people to discuss how many of their friends are of a race different from their own. The initiative was widely mocked.
It remains unclear how Starbucks is instructing employees to handle customers who attempt to use the fake coupons. At least one customer seems to have received a free coffee.
Referencing the coupons seems to have gotten one man a free coffee. Twitter user Bryan Sharpe posted a video of himself going into a Starbucks and saying, "I heard y'all was racist, so I came to get my free coffee.""Is that a real thing? I mean, I'll give it to you. I saw that on my Twitter last night," said the barista, who makes pleasant conversation with Sharpe throughout the exchange.
It can be difficult to debunk online myths; as soon as one is quashed, another springs up in its place.
As users started to warn that the Starbucks promotion wasn’t genuine, this more sophisticated fake coupon went out.
After the fake coupons for free Starbucks coffee "for black people only" went viral, now there's a fake apology offering free coffee for EVERYONE! 😆 This is some next level trolling for the #StarbucksChallenge pic.twitter.com/A0QgLLg5NP
— Mark Dice (@MarkDice) April 19, 2018
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Starbucks, for its part, has remained quiet about the whole affair. In statements to reporters it has confirmed that the coupons are fakes, but it hasn’t addressed the issue through tis social media channels.
That might be a smart strategy, according to some social media scientists. The New York Times discussed the best ways to counter fake news online in a roundup last September. Chief among its recommendations: Limit time spent arguing about erroneous information.
It wrote:
If you have to repeat a lie, it’s best to limit the description of it, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, one of the study’s authors, who is also the director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and a founder of FactCheck.org.The problem, she and the other authors said, is that rehashing arguments in favor of misinformation can inadvertently reinforce it, strengthening the defense against the truth.
How would you advise Starbucks to respond, PR Daily readers?
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