MAJOR GAFFE by CEO Causes Starbucks to Lose 24 Percent of Value

February 25, 2017

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MAJOR GAFFE by CEO Causes Starbucks to Lose 24 Percent of Value

Corporations who succumb to political correctness and try to socially engineer the world are finally suffering.

It happened to Target, Macy’s, and now it’s hitting Starbucks.

In spite of massive profits on the most used drug in the world, Starbucks has finally taken a well-deserved hit.

Recently, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz took a stance in defiance of Trump’s immigration executive order. He offered a message where he vowed to hire 10,000 refugees over the next 5 years. His catchphrase was “build bridges, not walls, with Mexico”. Here is part of

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Here is part of Schult’z political message:

I write to you today with deep concern, a heavy heart and a resolute promise. Let me begin with the news that is immediately in front of us: we have all been witness to the confusion, surprise and opposition to the Executive Order that President Trump issued on Friday, effectively banning people from several predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States, including refugees fleeing wars. I can assure you that our Partner Resources team has been in direct contact with the partners who are impacted by this immigration ban, and we are doing everything possible to support and help them to navigate through this confusing period.

Certainly the president of a coffee company knows more about national security than the President of the United States.

Thus, in defiance of the president of the United States, the president of a coffee company declared:

Hiring Refugees: We have a long history of hiring young people looking for opportunities and a pathway to a new life around the world. This is why we are doubling down on this commitment by working with our equity market employees as well as joint venture and licensed market partners in a concerted effort to welcome and seek opportunities for those fleeing war, violence, persecution and discrimination. There are more than 65 million citizens of the world recognized as refugees by the United Nations, and we are developing plans to hire 10,000 of them over five years in the 75 countries around the world where Starbucks does business.

According to Zero Hedge, Schultz’s attempt to socially engineer America backfired:

Unfortunately, Schultz quickly found out the hard way that while most adult-aged Americans can agree that they like coffee, roughly 50% disagree with his leftist political opinions. Which, according to Yahoo Finance, has sent the company’s “brand perception” into a downward spiral since January 29th.

The coffee giant’s consumer perception levels have fallen by two-thirds since late January, according to YouGov BrandIndex.

The perception tracker measures if respondents have “heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative.” In Starbucks’ case, perception is still overall positive, but significantly lower than it was prior to CEO Howard Schultz published a public letter outlining the company’s plans to give refugees jobs.

YouGov says that there’s reason to believe backlash will impact the chain’s bottom line. Two days before Starbucks’ announcement, 30% of consumers said they’d consider buying from Starbucks the next time they were craving coffee, the highest proportion in nearly a year. Now, the percentage is down to 24%, according to YouGov.

I have little doubt that Schultz’s bonehead move will negatively impact the company’s bottom line. We can only hope so.

I for one have started looking for other coffee sources, though many of those shops are Leftist owned as well. At least they can’t make massive social engineering declarations and occupy the bully pulpit.