Starbucks situation in South Korea: The Implications and Opportunities
The tumbler marketing
event, namely the “Tank Day”, of the Starbucks in South Korea recently invited
a huge backlash in the South Korean society. In South Korea, the 18th
of May is earmarked to remember the Democratization Movement, otherwise called Gwangju-Uprising,
that took place in 1980 against a military group, which was seeking, and later succeeded, to take
over the power, overriding the public demand for the democratic process in the
aftermath of the sudden death of President Park Jeong-hee in 1979. The nationwide
resistance seemed subsiding under the martial law the military had placed, but
the demand for the democracy remained undaunted in this west-southern city Gwangju. The clash end up with total 606 eventual fatalities, mostly
youngsters, by the military force that mobilized firearms, tanks and attack
helicopters. According to a Reddit contributor, to call the day “Tank Day” is
as provocative as to call September 11 “Plane Day”. That’s how the employment
of the term “Tank” for the marketing campaign set to start on no other date
than the Memorial Day for the democratic resistance against the military force
came so rattling to most people in South Korea.
The Implications of the incidents
The ongoing Starbucks
situation in South Korea seems to reflect the socio-political conflicts in South
Korea in many ways. For those who are not familiar with the political
bipolarization in the Korean society, the mockery of the national struggle for
democratization would come not easy to comprehend. What makes the incident more
intriguing would be that a product of Starbucks brand, whose status as the
symbol of American culture would be undisputable, was deployed as ammunition of
the derision over the human sacrifice made in the course of the struggle, the very
fruit of which the South Korean society has been flourishing
on since, which is the democracy.
It would be
a moot point to discuss US involvement in the Gwangju incident in 1980. The
military crackdown on the Democratic Uprising was not encouraged, nor coordinated
by the US Government. Yet, barely six
months had passed after the Gwangju massacre when the Reagan Administration invited
the new strongman Chun Doo-hwan to Washington DC. US obviously did not have a
lot of choices in its hand then under the situation of the sharp confrontation
with North Korea, but the hasty US endorsement of the military rule came to the
pro-democracy activists as betrayal of their trust in US as supporter of the
democratic order, as it had always claimed and stepped forward to be in other
regions of conflict. Thus, came out the occupation of the US Cultural Center in
Seoul by the student dissidents in 1985.
While the people
with the pro-democracy inclination, tending to be nationalistic and
pro-unification also, were specific about their stance with the US, but not necessarily
anti-US over all, the authoritarian regimes had constantly tried to stigmatize
the pro-democratic camp as anti-American in an attempt to paint them radical to
the public. However, the fact that the Starbucks business was so successful in
South Korea, being the world’s third largest in terms of the number of outlets,
only after USA and China, is a testimony by itself to the acceptance and
favorability of the American culture across the Korean society in general, which
seems to produce a picture denying the stereotyping as Anti-American of the pro-Democracy
populace, which had proven to be the majority of the South Korean population
throughout series of recent elections, Presidential and Congressional.
The peril from the owner
According to
the company’s statement of apology that was made in no time after the “Tank Day”
mockery got the public attention, the “marketing blunder” took place by a failure
to filter out the AI suggestions for the campaign name. While few seemed to
accept the corporate explanation, the related reports in the press educated
people more about the actual owner of the business, Chung Yong-jin.
Chung
Yong-jin, the chairman of the E-mart, which owns 67% of the coffee chain in
Korea, is a grandchild of the Samsung Group founder, thus, a cousin to Lee
Jae-yong, the chairman of Samsung Electronics. Her mother, the youngest and
dotted daughter of the Samsung founder, inherited Shinsegye, the most prestigious
department store in Korea, and had grown the business into a group of companies
mostly in the distribution industry, including E-Mart, the majority interest
holder in the Starbucks South Korea, when Chung came back in 1994 after years of
studying at Brown University in US.
He was first
known to the public when he married a famous actress in mid-1990s and since
then he made constant public exposures socializing with celebrities in various
fields that he liked to post on Instagram. One turning point in his public
image took place as recently as in 2024 when he suddenly volunteered to show
off his personal connection with the MAGA people in an interview with press,
offering himself as a bridge between the two countries.
While
his liking for public exposure, never near the level of flamboyancy often found
in the Western culture, yet unusual in the Korean society, could be
understandable for the nature of the industry he was in, some of his recent
activities seem to have crossed the line clearly. Like in USA, there are some
morbid internet sites destructive of the social integrity in the name of the ‘freedom
of speech’, such as 4chan and Infowars in US. Chung seemed wanting to appear as
patron for some of such internet sites in South Korea. He posted his hours with
a pro-colonialism cartoonist and Ilbe star[], who had invited public
indignation by mentioning the descendants of the independence fighters under
Japan are poor because of their laziness after their ancestors who chose to
fight against Japan instead of taking care of livelihood. Chung made donation
to Gaseyeon openly[], which has been specializing in character-assassination
based on unfounded rumors and fake stories.
[] Ilbe is
the South Korean internet site comparable to 4Chan in US and Gaseyeon to
Infowars.
Some critics
ascribed his such politicasl proclivity to his family background on the father’s side. His
grandfather was the highest-rank official as Korean in the Japanese colonial
government and his father came to be an influential politician under the liberated
Korea, which had failed to punish the collaborators under Japanese rule like the
way France did to their own under the German after the WWII. They interpret his
extreme rightist inclination as formed to justify the past of his paternal
family line. The ”Tank-Day” catchphrase may have been born out of his
abomination to the backbone against such themes as democracy, human right and
historical justice, that had served as the rationales for the resistance
against the authoritarian establishment, which also has been the ideological
basis of the democratization movement in South Korea of modern time that
produced its current administration of Lee Jae-myung. There is no direct
evidence that he was behind the “Tank-Day”, yet it should have to require a series
of highly improbable coincidences for such mockery of the publicly-remembered national
struggle and sacrifice to take place in a normal corporate environment in South
Korea. For many South Koreans who had been aware of his recent fondling with
the extreme rightist ideas it would be hard to disassociate the “Tank-Day”
promotion debacle from the recent display of his political dalliance.
The Highschool Baseball incident: Aftershock or a new
development?
People seemed
beginning to forget about the marketing fiasco after the series of measures by
the Starbucks SK operation including the firing of the CEO and the public
apology by Chung himself followed by Chung’s recent registration as official
board member of E-Mart, which would make his responsibility clear, and the
closing of the nationwide outlets for history education in June 23rd,
after the precedent in US of the racial-bias training in May 2019. And then
this high school baseball incident took place at the end of June to make the
Starbucks name on the news again nationwide. []
[] For detail go to: https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/society/20260701/tank-day-controversy-spills-over-to-high-school-baseball-game
The
high school baseball incident seemed to alarm many that the fallout from the
marketing debacle may have already permeated into the underlayer of the South
Korean society, deeper and wider than some would have liked to believe. It made
those concerned in the matter realize that all the measures taken so far by the
Starbucks SK and global management had been focused to prevent the repetition
of the social mockery within the corporate boundary. Now the Starbucks brand
has been found being consumed as material for socio-political mockery outside
the corporate sphere. It would be only
rational to think that the baseball game incident was only an exposure out of
the widespread practices where the Starbucks brand was used as a crest by those
with extreme rightist attitude, or those into anti-social mockery for fun, to
express their resistance to, or just to make fun of, the socio-political norms
of the South Korean society, in the workplace, schools and cyber space.
The
response to the baseball game incident was quick and harsh, reflecting the
general sentiments of the public over the incident. The Baseball Association
suspended the participation of the high School team in games for six months.
The punitive decision was made on July 1st, only two days after the anti-social
chant incident took place in the baseball stadium. The six-month suspension is
equivalent to a death sentence for athletes aspiring to professional career,
especially for the third graders, who had had a series of major tournaments
ahead this fall season where they would have opportunities to get the attention
from the scouters.
The
responses to the punishment on the high school team manifested the division of
the South Korean society in a different way from the original marketing
incident. Those opposing the punishment
showed a wide spectrum of stance: from the condemnation of the punishment as
oppression of the ‘freedom of speech’, to the sympathetic tone for the student
players that the penalty of the six-month suspension was too harsh when the
adults should be responsible for the deviation of the minors.
It
was under this social atmosphere the apologetic visit was made on July 6th by
the Paichai high school led by its principal to Gwangju joined by the parents
of the players. We don’t know at this point whether the punishment would be
rescinded or not. While many believe yet that the players should not be granted
pardon, arguing any leniency there would encourage the play culture of
anti-social mockery and cynicism among the minors, the deprivation of
opportunities for higher career for young students, and the corresponding pains
of their parents, would work all the same to trigger the sentiments of sympathy
across the Korean society. The punishment of suspension lifted or not, the social
stigma would be following each young player involved for a duration of time no
one knows how long.
How to stop the further abuse of Starbucks
brand as socio-political meme
-Understanding the
situation in a dispassionate and scientific way
First,
those who are seeking the solution here should be able to take the truth
comfortably that most South Koreans like the United States regardless of their
political inclination. The attachment of the Anti-American stigma on the Pro-Democracy
camp, if ever, settled in as result of the cognitive manipulation strategy by
the Conservative block, perhaps more successful among Americans. Their use of
the Stars-and-Stripes, along with the ROK flag, in political rallies started
under the New Right Administration of Lee Myung-bak, who came up with the
scheme to paint the Democratic camp as anti-American. If you are American and think it that way, they were successful and you are their fruit.
[] The New-Right Movement are remembered by some Koreans as attempt to establish a theocracy in their national community, a Christian version of Khomeini sitting over the country and people.
But, the truth is that those in
Democratization block were not any less fond of American things than the
rightists, like the rightists are not any more patriotic than the Democratic
camp people by the national flag in their hand at rallies. It was with
the Democratic Administration of Noh Moo-hyun that South Korea proposed and embarked
on the Free Trade Pact with USA, then under Bush, the son, and many of those
student activists later studied in USA, including Kim Min-seok, former Prime
Minister, who rallied at the US Cultural Center in 1985 and studied in Harvard
later.
In South Korea, the regions have been politically divided for decades. By and large, the western regions were known for their Pro-Democracy tint while the eastern regions showed the Conservative slant. We don’t know of any researches for the favorability of the US by region in South Korea, but the density of the Starbucks stores can be a loose but good measure readily available there. At least it would not work as reverse indicator. By a simple alignment of numbers and some calculation, we could find the very city mocked at in the tumbler marketing was one of the top two major cities in South Korea, except for Seoul, with the highest density of Starbucks outlets. Daegu and Busan, eastern cities known as the political base for the Conservatives, showed clearly lesser density than Gwangju. While the result shows in the first place how groundless was the smear campaign by the Conservative Camp that the Pro-Democracy populace is Anti-American, it also reveals how much of the unscrupulous betrayal for both the customer loyalty and the corporate interest the tumbler marketing was. It just epitomizes how indiscriminate the extreme rightists were in general in their culture of social mockery.
[] The above populations of major cities are from the Ministry of Interior statistics of June 2026. Number of outlets per city is as of April 2026 by the Starbucks official site.
-The planned consistency
of the mockery
Many believe
the “Tank Day” mockery was not the first such gratuitous provocation. In April
16 of 2024, Starbucks SK launched the “Classic Siren Mug Collection” event. The
day was no other than the 10th anniversary of the national tragedy “Sinking
of Ferry Sewol” that took away the lives of 304 mostly high school girls on their
field trip, which led to the stepdown of President Park Keun-hye, from the
Conservative party. Siren, being the character of Starbucks logo, was
semi-goddess known luring the sailors to their deaths in the Greek myths. The probable provocative intention of the sales campaign was pointed out by a
congressman, but didn’t get much social attention then. The alleged malevolence
outlied the public imagination. When Starbucks SK placed a campaign that they
dubbed “Mini Tank-Day” on April 16 this year, nobody, except for the secret
planners behind, had an idea that it could be a prelude for something bigger
soon to come. If it was
intended as prelude for the “Tank Day” by the marketing event planners, their
such attempt would have been equivalent to the institutionalization of the
hidden mockery meant to be repeated every year.
The consistency
of the planned events is just another evidence that they were not a result of layers
of innocent coincidences, but of the pre-planned scheme. The main playground of
those pathological social mockers used to be the cyberspace, such as Ilbe. Now
the Starbucks brand became an instrument of the social mockery in real life,
employed as a drapery to demonstrate the US support -true or not- for their
depravities. And it was no other than the employees, or the management suspectedly,
of the Starbucks South Korea who first thought out the way to use the brand as
tools for their social mockery series.
-The key takeaways
from the affair
One of the
most important and unequivocal takeaways from laying all these incidents on the
line should be that the Starbucks brand has been consistently used by those
anti-social warriors within the corporate organization in a way that labelled
the Democratic Movement in South Korea as Anti-American. The picture that the
planners wanted to produce through the layout of the symbols, which were 5.18, Tank, and Starbucks, from the Tumbler marketing to the high school
baseball episode, would be that those who sought the democracy and independence
are anti-American while US was and is behind the suppressors of the democracy, the
very dichotomy that the young high school chanters had somehow been brought to stage on
that day. It was intended as an extension of the Stars-and-Stripes in the hand of the seniors at
the Conservative rally, only subtler yet more unscrupulous and indiscriminate in its appropriation of the commercial brand power for their political purpose.
Unfortunately,
the political terrains of recent formation in both countries have been foddering
the poorly-educated and under-informed perspectives in order to privatize the
US-South Korea relationship for their partisan interest at the expense of
healthy and time-tested relationship between the two countries and peoples at a
discount. The Starbucks South Korea situation showcased the abuse of the coffee
brand, the American symbol, as coat of arms of the authoritarian establishment
crushing the pro-democracy movement.
The treacherous road ahead
In the
statement of apology Chung made before the press in early June, he finished his
speech with the wish for the society to be more receptive of different opinions
of others. An apology that ended in chiding the alleged victim. Despite the
obvious impertinence of the remark, he might have still needed that part to
send out a secret message to his battalion that he would not give up his role
as patron for their activities of mockery against the “résistance”. Another addressee
of his secret message would be the people of new partisan interests in US that
he had claimed to represent in South Korea. He would not give up his role of
bridge.
Actually,
the high school baseball game may not have been a random venue for an exposure
of the undercurrent conflict, given Chung’s deep engagement in the baseball
field. He has been the owner of the professional baseball team named SSG
Landers since 2022. And his company E-Mart started to host the high school
baseball tournament in the same year. He sure did not encourage the young
players to do the mocking chant on Gwangju using Starbucks name. Yet, one thing
is still clear. He has a lot of resources in his hand to affect the course of
the things in the area, one way or another, while he would be constantly
tempted to exercise his power at a certain situation in the future to produce a
message of support to his followers in subtle ways. The temptation to use the coffee
brand as symbol of the US backing for the rightists’ political agenda would
never disappear by itself.
[] As of
this time working on this article, the news of the Starbucks employees forming
a labor union came in.
Candidate Measures Starbucks Global can consider
Thus, the
focus of the Starbucks global management in handling the development concerning
its brand image and corporate values should be about giving out the message directly
and unmistakably to the South Korean community that it is against the Starbucks
global policy to use the its brand for political purpose or intentions, whether
by the its own regional operation or by any entities outside its corporate
realm. Followings are the measures that can be thinkable for Starbucks Global
HQ in the order of the engagement strength:
-Public disclosure of the Corporate Training Material
It will serve to pass
the corporate message in an unequivocal manner to the Korean public
that the
Starbucks is against the use of its brand for political use or intentions. It
can be just
about the no-engagement principle. The
Starbucks US is known to have the precedent of
disclosing the content of the corporate bias-training.
Whatever it could be, it should be
something to
put an end to the situation once and for all, not leaving a room for anyone to
distort the meaning. It should be something to
be referred to as guideline for any possible
situations in the future.
-Public message of apology
An official advertisement
in the newspaper in statement of Starbucks values in the name of
Starbucks HQ would be a good idea in that it
would be taken as a direct letter from
Starbucks to the Korean society. Some words of
regret for the recent incidents will sound
natural and responsible.
It will have more than restorative effect in the third largest
Starbucks market, which is inarguably one of the cultural leaders in the world.
-Visit of
the Starbucks CEO or Howard Schultz to South Korea
He could be the
current CEO or the founder Schultz. His visit schedule should include the
visit to Gwangju, the cemetery of the victims or
the high school in the baseball game. His
such visit
can be followed by the visit to the President Lee Jae-myung, which Blue House
is expected to welcome, or a visit to the
novelist Han-Gang, Novel Prize Laurette in
literature for her story on the Gwangju
uprising. The US Ambassador to South Korea may
join the visit.
Closing Remark: the opportunity for recalibration
Actually, the US-South Korea relationship is having a critical moment in history. The two countries need to recalibrate their relationship by remembering the fact that the American democracy has been the model for Korean society since its independence, and that should remain the basis for the healthy relationship between the two countries. US government may be having a good opportunity to do that suavely in this Starbucks affair. It has nothing to hide but it only didn’t have a natural chance to say to the South Korean community that US did not support the military suppression of Gwangju Uprising. US did what it did for the expediency of the time. US Government knew there was no evidence for the North Korean engagement in the disturbance that the South Korean military tried to persuade US into believing. South Korean Supreme Court clearly defined the Gwangju Uprising as the excise of the people’s legitimate right to protest against the attempted destruction of the democracy, thus the use of the violence by the military as destructive of the Constitutional order, in its verdict for the punishment of the involved military leaders in 1997.
Some of the doubt and mistrust about the US support for democracy can be traced back to the silence of US Government on the Gwangju Uprising. Many people in South Korea look at the new US Ambassador to South Korea, Michelle Steele, on the same line of doubt and misgivings. She has many things to do ahead, and the first thing she may need to do can be send out the message that she would represent the healthy line of the relationship between the two countries. Her any kind of engagement in solving the Starbucks issue would provide a natural-looking opportunity to do the announcement in an action louder than any words. Her any activities after that will be seen by her Korean counterparts as sincere and constructive for the future of the two countries.
end.
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