Starbucks in South Korea will close its storefronts for a half-day next week so employees can attend a history lesson as the coffee chain faces widespread criticism over a “Tank Day” promotion.
The campaign advertising Starbucks’s new “Tank” coffee thermos for bigger coffees was launched on the 46-year anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising, a series of pro-democracy protests against former dictator Chun Doo-hwan in which at least 165 people were killed, but other sources put the death toll in the thousands.
The coffee chain fired its chief executive, Son Jeong-hyun, the same day the promotion launched. Son apologized for the campaign and tumbler name choice before his dismissal and pledged company-wide training on historical awareness and ethics.
Starbucks locations across South Korea will be closed at 3 p.m. local time for three hours on June 24 for staff training on the history of the Gwangju Uprising, which began on May 18, 1980, and lasted 10 days. The closure marks Starbucks Korea’s first nationwide early closure since 1999.
Shinsegae Group, the company that owns the Starbucks licensing agreement in South Korea, issued an apology the following day, May 19, and said Chairman Chung Yong-jin will participate in the companywide training.
Anger over the company’s campaign spread quickly. Protesters gathered outside of locations across the country and smashed the mugs and tumblers released as part of the “Tank Day” promotion.
Protesters not only took issue with the mug’s militaristic name and the timing of its release but also the slogan Starbucks used, “Thwack on the desk.” The same onomatopoeia was used by police after the 1987 death of student activist Park Jong-chul when authorities claimed Park died due to an officer who had used his fist to “hit the desk with a thwack.”
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Shinsegae Group said in a statement that the marketing department had chosen the “thwack on the desk” slogan after using an artificial intelligence tool.
The incident also caught the attention of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who called the campaign “inhumane and disgraceful” on social media during the initial backlash last month.