The Great Starbucks Marketing Ploy

Here it is 5 days later and we are still talking about those damn Red Starbucks cups. I mean really? There are so many other important stories out there that should be told, but the one dominating the conversation is about the color of cardboard coffee cups? This is of course because some Christians think that Starbucks is waging some sort of war on Christmas, which I've already written about. While looking through my Facebook timeline though, I had a thought, what if this is Starbucks new marketing ploy?

Controversy sells and if the lines at the Starbucks near my place is any indication, this is great for business. One of the new ways to market is via social media, and the best way to do that is to make something go viral. At this point there is nothing more viral than the plain red cups that the coffee giant opted to go with right now. There are huge debates about whether or not there is a "War on Christmas" and what it really means to be Christian. At the very center of the controversy and receiving a lot of attention is Starbucks and frankly you cannot pay for this type of media exposure.

The counter argument to my theory is going to be that Joshua Feuerstein posts these videos all the time and he truly believes what he said. That could be true but watch the video again, closely. Throughout the video (which can be seen below) he is holding the Starbucks Red Cup to the camera, which screams product placement. He also says that "Instead of simply boycotting, why don't we start a movement?" He is so offended by the Red Cup that he is urging "all great Americans and Christians" to go to Starbucks. If he isn't getting paid for that, then he and I need to sit down and talk business.

Another point to think about is that he is urging people to share selfies with their own Red Cups, as well as sharing his video. This means that more people will see the Starbucks cup and will be enticed to buy some coffee from them. For someone who thinks that they are waging a war on Christmas, Feuerstein sure doesn't understand business very well. Unless of course he is part of the marketing ploy and has cashed a huge check to help the company with this. Again if he didn't, he should email me so I can teach him a few things about business.

Starbucks has pulled off the biggest and best marketing ploy this year, possibly this decade. Under the guise of an indignant, Conservative Christian, who is mad about the color of his cup and the fact that there aren't any snowflakes on it. Whoever is in charge of marketing should be getting a nice bonus this year.