This says it all:
In one of the more brazen attempts by a corporation to disguise itself as a locally owned business, Starbucks is un-branding at least three of its Seattle outlets. The first of these conversions, just reopened after extensive remodeling, is called 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea. All of the signage and product labels bear this new name. The Starbucks corporate logo is nowhere to be seen.
The corporate co-option of "local" is not new. Lays Potato Chips made the news by attempting to brand its chips as local. After all... every one of the potatoes were grown somewhere, right? They are all local to somewhere. Other large chains (Whole Foods, for example) have fake farmers markets in their parking lots. But Starbucks is going several steps further in this new attempt to unbrand its stores. This is the opposite of the "We proudly brew Starbucks coffee" label that you see in hotels and restaurants around the country. This strikes me as particularly dishonest and misleading, as they are attempting to gain the business of people who specifically wish to support local, independent businesses instead of buying from Starbucks. |
