Starbucks coffee now comes with a tall
order of politics
The Come Together petition calls on Washington to 'pay our
debts on time' and pass 'budget deal by the end of the year.' But the message
may be equally directed at the American public
Could a message on a coffee cup have any
sway in Washington?
Starbucks CEO Howard
Schultz is betting on it, urging all customers to join the company’s
Come Together petition.
The petition, which was announced
yesterday and emailed to number of Starbucks patrons early today, calls on
those in Washington to come together and “reopen or government to serve the
people, pay our debts on time to avoid another financial crisis [and] pass a
bipartisan and comprehensive long-term budget deal by the end of the year.”
On the ninth day of the shutdown, the
company began offering a free tall drink for any customer that bought one for
someone else. The Come Together promotional deal, which ends today, was meant
to “bring us all a little closer at a time when showing our unity is so
important.”
This is not the first time that Schultz
has attempted to influence US lawmakers with message of togetherness. The Come
Together campaign was first launched during the 2012 debt ceiling negotiations,
when for three days baristas throughout Washington
DC wrote “come together” on customers’
cups. (Or, as the Guardian then dubbed them, fiscal cliffuccinos.)
“Rather than be bystanders, we have an
opportunity – and I believe a responsibility – to use our company’s scale for
good by sending a respectful and optimistic message to our elected officials to
come together and reach common ground on this important issue,” said Schultz in
2012.
During the summer of 2011, Schultz also
started a campaign for the "Create Jobs for USA Fund," selling red,
white and blue woven bracelets with metal clips that read
"indivisible."
Schultz did more than send an optimistic
message to US lawmakers, however. He sent a message that also hurt
congressional campaign coffers. Two weeks after President Obama and Congress
reached the debt ceiling deal of 2011, Schultz organized a boycott, calling on
other CEOs to withhold political contributions in order to get lawmakers to
come up with a long-term debt deal.
Schultz was convinced that withholding
financial support would force “elected leaders to face the nation’s long-term
fiscal challenges with civility, honesty, and a willingness to sacrifice their
own re-election. This means not kicking the can anymore. It means reaching a
deal on debt, revenue, and spending long before the deadline arrives this fall.
It means considering all options, from entitlement programs to taxes.”
The 2011 boycott was not without
followers. Schultz was joined by around 100 of other leaders within the
business community – among them CEOs of companies such as J Crew, AOL and JC
Penney. Yet two years later, he is again attempting to sway the lawmakers with
messages on coffee cups.
If threatening to withhold campaign
contributions didn’t inspire lawmakers to come up with a long-term fiscal
solution for the country, many might find it hard to see why coffee cups will.
Schultz might be onto something, however.
As the shutdown standoff has crept into its 11th day, business groups feel that
they have lost sway over the lawmakers they helped put into office with their
campaign donations.
Texas Representative Randy Neugebauer, who
has received number of donations from Wall Street, told the New York Times that
if US businesses want to send their money elsewhere, they should.
“We have got to quit worrying about the
next election, and start worrying about the country,” he said.
For those in Washington who do worry about
the next elections, looking to Americans does not provide any clearer path
forward. An NBC poll showed this week that the majority of Americans would vote
Congress out of office.
Maybe Schultz has a point. Maybe
Starbucks’s message to "come together" is as much for the public as
for the US
lawmakers.
Come Together
George Soros
was a supporter for America Coming Together,
a contributor for the American Bridge 21st
Century, a contributor for MoveOn.org, a
supporter for the Center for American
Progress, and is the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Note: Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Center for
American Progress, Media Matters, the
Robin Hood Foundation, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), and
the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Peter B.
Lewis was a supporter for America Coming Together,
a contributor for the American Bridge 21st
Century, is a contributor for MoveOn.org, a
director at the Center for American Progress, and
a donor at Media Matters.
Schultz
Family Foundation was a funder for the Robin Hood Foundation.
Howard D.
Schultz is a trustee at the Schultz Family Foundation,
the chairman & president & CEO for the Starbucks
Corporation, and was a director at the DreamWorks
Animation SKG Inc.
William
W. Bradley is a director at Starbucks Corporation,
a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), and Mellody L. Hobson’s
mentor.
Mellody
L. Hobson’s mentor is William W. Bradley,
the chairman for DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., a
member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a
director at the Starbucks Corporation.
Cyrus
F. Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago,
and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution
(think tank).
Richard C.
Blum is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), married to Senator Dianne
Feinstein, and a board member for the Haas School
of Business.
Barbara
Bass Bakar is a benefactor at the Haas School of Business,
and was a director at the Starbucks Corporation.
Sheryl
K. Sandberg was a trustee at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), and is a director at the Starbucks
Corporation.
Robert M.
Gates is a director at the Starbucks Corporation,
and the secretary at the U.S. Department of Defense
for the Barack Obama administration.
Patrick
H. Gaspard was the White House political director for the Barack Obama administration, the national field director for
America Coming Together, the national
political director for the 2008 Barack Obama
presidential campaign, the chair, national mall for the 2013 Barack Obama inaugural committee, and is an executive
director at the Democratic National Committee.
Robert F.
Bauer is the general counsel for the Democratic National
Committee, was the White House counsel for the Barack Obama
administration, and Barack Obama’s
personal counsel.
Barack Obama
is the president of the Barack Obama
administration, and was an intern at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.
R. Eden
Martin is counsel at Sidley Austin LLP,
and the president of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Mellody
L. Hobson is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago,
the chairman for DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., and
a director at the Starbucks Corporation.
Howard D.
Schultz was a director at the DreamWorks Animation SKG
Inc., and is the chairman & president & CEO for the Starbucks Corporation.
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