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Starbucks’ South Korean staff to receive history lesson after ‘Tank Day’ blunder
The coffee giant will close all stores for half a day so employees can ‘receive education in historical awareness and social sensitivity’
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Starbucks stores across South Korea will close for half a day next week for staff to attend a history lesson following a promotional campaign gone awry, the coffee giant said on Monday.
Starbucks Korea, with more than 2,000 stores nationwide, found itself embroiled in public uproar last month when it ran a “Tank Day” promotion evoking a deadly military crackdown on a 1980 pro-democracy uprising.
The day of the reusable cup promotion – May 18 – coincided with the 46th anniversary of the Gwangju uprising in which 165 civilians were killed, according to the official toll, though many believe the real figure to be much higher.
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South Korea is the company’s third largest market after the United States and China.
Shinsegae Group, which operates Starbucks under a licensing agreement, fired its South Korea chief executive the very day news of the scandal broke, and apologised.
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