Starbucks Is Criticized for Its Holiday Cups. Yes, Again.<br />“We intentionally designed the cup so our customers can interpret it in their own way, adding their own color and illustrations.”<br />Controversy over the design of seasonal Starbucks cups is just one front in an annual culture war over the role of religion and liberalism in the five-week period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, a period<br />that people inclined toward interfaith outreach might call “the holiday season.”<br />Like many divisive cultural debates, arguments over the Christian bona fides of seasonal Starbucks cups appear to have intensified during the 2016 presidential campaign as political<br />and social tensions heightened in many areas of American life.<br />In a statement released at the time, the company said it wanted to “create a culture of belonging, inclusion<br />and diversity” and meant the cups as an invitation for “customers to tell their Christmas stories in their own way, with a red cup that mimics a blank canvas.”<br />That decision was met with an angry online backlash from conservatives and others who saw it as an example of political correctness run amok.<br />This year’s cup features nods to Christmas tradition, including a decorated Christmas tree, and was introduced by an online video<br />that proclaimed “the holidays mean something different to everyone.”<br />But that big-tent approach wasn’t enough to avoid controversy.<br />The online video that introduced the 2017 holiday cup on Nov. 1 featured a diverse cast<br />of Starbucks customers, including a pair of cartoon women who were shown holding hands.
