The 2016 cup provoked a negative response on social media because of the one person it didn’t feature: Jesus. It proved to be anything but unifying in the end. The design was a mosaic of hundreds of different people drawn in a single line, which was meant to symbolize unity. However, the one cup issued by Starbucks itself in 2016 still managed to stir some controversy - and not because it went with green. In total, Starbucks had 14 seasonal cups for the year, 13 of which were user-submitted designs from six different countries that built on the plain red cups of 2015. If the higher-ups at Starbucks were rattled by the public outcry in 2015, their strategy for 2016 was to simply flood their critics with different holiday cups. 2016: Starbucks Releases Over a Dozen Cups sales for the last three months of 2015 - slightly higher than the 8 percent recorded globally. Starbucks experienced a 9 percent year-over-year increase in U.S. However, it would seem as though the lack of religious messaging didn’t stop too many people from returning to the Seattle-based coffee giant. Without exit polls at Starbucks stores, it’s impossible to know exactly how much the controversy motivated customers one way or another. In the video - posted to Feuerstein’s Facebook page - he accused the company of wanting to “take Christ and Christmas off of their brand-new cups,” which was why they were “just plain red.” If you’re seeking the “patient zero” of seasonal coffee cup rage, look no further than evangelist Joshua Feuerstein, whose video rant about the cups prompted the original controversy. Somehow, America managed to march on without controversy, year after year, between 1997 to 2014.ĭon’t Miss: Starbucks’ Trash Is Now Coffee Gold, Thanks to a Brilliant Discovery 2015: Anger Erupts Over Plain Red Cups Successive years would feature a number of different designs, but Starbucks usually chose simple seasonal themes featuring winter imagery in red and white color schemes, with some exceptions. Those first cups over 20 years ago were “adorned with hand-drawn holly and swirls dotted with tiny coffee beans … in one of four jewel-toned hues.”

Starbucks has offered up a special cup each holiday season since 1997. 1997-2014: An Early History of Starbucks' Holiday Cups Take a look at how the coffee giant has handled the debate over its limited-edition drinks each year.

Nonetheless, Starbucks cups have become a topic of serious holiday discussion over the years. Starbucks’ website describes the 2015 cup as “a two-toned ombré design, with a bright poppy color on top that morphed into a darker cranberry below” - or, to put it another way, red.Īlthough the plain red cups caused an uproar three years ago, Starbucks has released special seasonal cups since 1997, many of which sparked no controversy - as one might expect from paper coffee cups that disappear after two months.

This article originally appeared on : The Notorious History of Starbucks’ Holiday Cupsīack in 2015, Starbucks landed in more hot water than a tea bag after the company debuted its new holiday cup, which prompted an angry divide among some consumers.

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