NEW YORK — It’s as red as Santa’s suit, a poinsettia or your neighbor’s ugly Christmas sweater. Yet Starbucks’ stark new holiday coffee cup has set off complaints that the chain is making war on Christmas.
The outcry — which gained in intensity after Donald Trump suggested boycotting the coffee chain — illustrates the fine line companies must walk during the important holiday season: They want to stand out, but not go so far as to offend or unsettle.
Since 1997, Starbucks has offered holiday drinks in a festive red cup, adorned with such things as Christmas ornaments, reindeer and snowflakes. This year’s design is minimalist: vivid red, with nothing but the familiar green Starbucks logo.
Starbucks executives said they wanted to embrace “simplicity and quietness.” The company also reminded customers that it is selling its Christmas Blend coffee as usual this year.
But some religious conservatives saw the new cup as an affront to tradition and yet another example of what some have called the “war on Christmas” — the taking of religion out of the Yuletide season by doing such things as greeting customers with “Happy holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.”
On Twitter, where the topic became a sensation, some people were upset over the cup, while others said they didn’t understand what the big deal was.
Trump weighed in on Monday by saying, “Maybe we should boycott Starbucks.”
