Starbucks cafe in Seoul, South Korea
Starbucks Korea will temporarily close almost all stores in the country to provide historical training to employees, after a promotional campaign launched on the anniversary of the Gwangju uprising was linked to the 1980 military crackdown.
Starbucks stores across South Korea will close for half a day next week so employees can attend a history lesson, after a disastrous promotional campaign which evoked a deadly repression that occurred in 1980, the coffee giant announced this Monday.
The president of Shinsegae Groupwhich operates Starbucks under a licensing agreement, and other top executives will have a similar session two days later.
Starbucks Korea, which has more than 2,000 stores across the country, found herself involved in a wave of public outrage last month after launching a promotion called “Tank Day”, which promoted the use of large reusable cups.
The name of the campaign, however, was interpreted by many South Koreans as evoking the brutal military repression against a pro-democracy uprising in 1980.
The reusable cups promotion day, May 18th, coincided with the 46th anniversary of Gwangju uprisingin which 165 civilians died, according to the official toll, although many believe that the real number is much higher.
The Shinsegae Group fired its executive director for Korea on the same day the news of the scandal became known and he apologized. South Korea is the company’s third largest market, after the United States and China.
This Monday, the company announced that its president, Chung Yong-jin“must receive training together with the executive directors of each affiliate” on Wednesday of next week.
Two days before, all employees of Starbucks Korea stores will “receive training in historical awareness and social sensitivity through watching videos.”
Stores across the country will close at 3pm local time for three hours of training and will not open again in this day. It is the first time such simultaneous closures have occurred since Starbucks opened in South Korea in 1999.
The only exception will be a small number of stores located in airportsa Shinsegae representative told AFP.
The group claimed to have identified a series of negligent acts leading up to the promotion, including approvals given by those responsible without the design file having been verified. There was also no legal analysis.
Koo Jeong-woo, professor at Sungkyunkwan University, who will lead part of the training, told AFP that he intends to explain, among other topics, the “meaning of social sensitivity”.
To controversy, that led to protests in Seoul and Gwangjucaused a “sharp drop in sales” in the first days of the scandal, according to the operator. Faced with the objection, President Lee Jae Myung expressed his outrage at “this inhumane and shameful conduct” on X.
