Starbucks Korea's chief executive has been sacked over a campaign perceived as referring to a bloody historical incident, according to BBC.
The promotion, which used the English words “Tank Day,” was for Starbucks Korea’s Tank Series drink tumblers touted to have “spacious volume” for a large amount of coffee.
Launched on Monday, the campaign coincided with the anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising crackdown, sparking calls to boycott Starbucks Korea and prompted a harsh rebuke from President Lee Jae Myung.
Many felt the “tank” motif referenced the vehicles deployed by the military government in May 1980 to crush pro-democracy protesters, BBC wrote.
Starbucks Korea rolled back the promotion hours after it launched. Shinsegae, the conglomerate that owns the majority stake in the coffee chain, apologized for “inappropriate marketing” and fired the chain's chief executive Sohn Jeong-hyun.
According to local reports, Starbucks Korea initially clarified that the Tank Series was one of several series of tumblers it was rolling out in a campaign running from May 15 to 26.
“We sincerely apologize for causing inconvenience and concern to our customers due to this,” the company said. “We have immediately suspended the event and will review and improve our internal processes to prevent similar incidents from recurring in the future.”
Starbucks' headquarters in the US also issued an apology, acknowledging that “while unintentional, [the incident] should never have happened.”
“We recognize the deep pain and offense this has caused, particularly to those who honor the victims, their families, and all who contributed to Korea's democratization,” it said.
“I can't believe they thought they could pull off something like this and people would just let it slide... it's utterly absurd and infuriating,” an X user wrote early on Tuesday.
Several also put out calls on social media to boycott both Starbucks Korea and Shinsegae.
South Korea's president was among those who criticized the campaign, saying it “insults the victims and the bloody struggle” of the residents of the southern city of Gwangju.
“What on earth were they thinking, knowing how many lives were taken that day and how seriously that set back our country's justice and history?
“I am outraged by such a low-class merchant's inhumane behavior, which denies our country's values of basic human rights and democracy,” Lee wrote on an X post.
Reports estimate that hundreds of demonstrators were killed in the southern city of Gwangju on May 18, 1980.
Further investigations into the massacre later confirmed that troops deployed by the military regime of Chun Doo-hwan committed rape and sexual assault.
Since then, May 18 has frequently been depicted in films and television shows as a day of national trauma for South Korea while also commemorated annually as a day of democracy.
The Gwangju Uprising set South Korea on its path toward democracy. It became a rallying cry for activists over the following seven years, culminating in a movement in June 1987 which toppled Chun's regime.
Some in South Korea claim the Starbucks Korea campaign also references the 1987 movement.
Shinsegae's group chairman Chung Yong-jin called the Starbucks campaign “an inexcusable mistake that trivialized the suffering and sacrifices of all those who have dedicated themselves to the democracy of this country.”
In a statement on Tuesday, he pledged to “thoroughly investigate” the approval procedures behind the event and “re-examine the review process” for marketing content across all its affiliates.
Since it sold off its stakes in July 2021, Starbucks Coffee Company, headquartered in the US, no longer has any involvement in Starbucks's operations in South Korea.
Shinsegae's subsidiary E-mart owns a 67.5% controlling stake in Starbucks Korea, while the remaining share is owned by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC.
