Starbucks may have had humble Seattle beginnings, but some of the city’s inhabitants have no love for the coffee giant, rallying against it like they would against any other corporation.
This week, a group of protesters paraded a “giant cup monster” to voice their anger against Starbucks during its annual shareholders meeting, which took place on Wednesday.
The protesters claim that the coffee chain never made good on its 2008 promise to make their cups recyclable. The group, calling themselves “Stand.earth,” erected a giant effigy made from 1,000 used Starbucks cups atop a shopping cart, which they wheeled around near Starbucks headquarters. They had also planned to construct a 90-foot-tall “coffee wall,” but police prevented them from doing so.
The “giant cup monster” has its roots in union rats, which are commonly used by striking trade unions against their employers or contractors. Scabby in appearance, the rats are often inflatable, and are a reference to non-union workers, who are known as “rats.”
One of the protesters, Todd Paglia, told KOMO News that the claim Starbucks makes about its recyclable cups is untrue. “Almost all of them end up going into dumps,” said the protester. “They can’t be recycled, and that costs the world a million trees every single year.”
A Starbucks employee at the meeting disagreed, telling KOMO that the protesters simply don’t realize all the good it does.
“Until you are part of the organization you don’t realize all the good things they do. … It’s just incredible, our story,” said the unnamed employee.
Ian Miles Cheong is a journalist and outspoken media critic. You can reach him through social media at @stillgray on Twitter and on Facebook.
