Starbucks and their advertisements

1. Why did I choose this ad and Starbucks?

For this topic, I’m going to pick an ad from Starbucks to debunk it. I picked coffee for this topic because coffee is really common for college students, and I want to know more about coffee as I drink lots of coffee every day. Here is a picture of the ad that I picked.

I chose this specific ad because the words of it is very intriguing, the ad itself claims that Starbucks makes the best coffee, very arrogant yet it grabbed my attention. The reason why I picked this ad from Starbucks because Starbucks is one of the biggest coffee chain in the world to get there they had very good marketing tactics and advertisements. As a result, I want to see use of their ads to see how they manipulate their consumers into buying their coffee. Founded in 1971 by Zev Siegl, Gordon Bowker and Jerry Baldwin Starbucks has their shops in over 70 countries. Starbucks revenue hit ~21 billion (2016) and the company is offering over 300,000 jobs across all its stores.

2. Starbucks’ history 

Let’s go a little deeper in Starbucks’ history. The first ever Starbucks was opened on, March 31^st 1971. Baldwin, Siegl and Bowker were taught how to roast coffee beans by Alfred Peet and decided they wanted to sell high quality coffee. The logo of Starbucks originally was made as a siren inspired by Greek Mythology. The first logo of Starbucks was completely topless and had a double tail. The 2nd logo of Starbucks was a big change to the company, they changed the primary color of the logo from brown to green and dark brown in the middle of the circle. In 2011, the company made a small change to the logo which switched it to an all green logo and enlarged the siren logo. The name “Starbucks” comes from the chief mate in the book Moby-Dick. On 1989, there were 46 Starbucks stores in the Midwest and the Northwest and Starbucks was roasting over 2,000,000,000 lbs. annually. In 2008, Starbucks expanded their shops to countries such as: Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Portugal. By 2017, Starbucks has over 21,000 stores worldwide.

3. Who is this ad for?

I found this ad after 30 minutes of searching the World Wide Web, although they were many other choices but I wanted to pick this ad because it belongs to Starbucks. For this specific ad, in my opinion its intended audience is wide. Starbucks doesn’t really seem to aim to an age group or a group of people, they just want to aim it to coffee drinkers. “If your coffee isn’t perfect, we’ll make it over. If it’s still not perfect make sure you are in a Starbucks”. The reason why I said this message isn’t intended for a specific age group is because the purpose of the message is very straight forward: we’ll make sure your coffee is good and if your coffee is not good then you aren’t in one of our stores. If it was for college students, I assume they would say something about exams and tests to attract college students to buy coffee during midterms or finals week. Being a college student, I’ve seen a few ads for coffee during finals week where we can bring a plastic cup for a 2$ off coffee at Starbucks to attract us to go there and fuel up for our exams. If the ad was intended for couples, it would send a message for an individual to be a better person. For example, when I was searching for this ad, I’ve seen a coffee ad that had a couple kissing and in their hands they are holding coffee cups from Nescafe (implying that your relationship will be strengthened when you drink Nescafe).

4. The products of Starbucks  

Starbucks offers a lot of products on their menu, in this post I will go over a few of them that I think was interesting and mind-opening. The first one is the Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte. As listed on the website, the ingredients are: Non-fat milk, brewed espresso, sugar-free Cinnamon Dolce Syrup, Water, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Cellulose Gum, Citric Acid, Sucralose, Sodium Benzoate and caramel color. Although it has nothing to with the ingredients, I’m not too happy with the name of this products that is promoting that skinny is better and that people need the “skinny” drink. Leave that aside, the sucralose in this latte has been getting a few researches that stated that it’s not safe to intake this ingredient. For instance, an experiment conducted by the CSPI that tested sucralose on rodents found out that rodents that had been consuming sucralose increased their risk to leukemia. Another ingredient in this product that is controversial is the artificial sweeteners. To be more specific, a review by “International Journal of Pediatric Obesity” stated that artificially-sweetened consumption is linked with weight gain in children. The second product I want to walk about is the white chocolate mocha. As listed on Starbucks’ website the ingredients are comprised of: Milk, White chocolate, Mocha Sauce, Natural Flavor, Salt, Potassium Sorbate Mono-glycerides, Brewed Espresso, Whipped Cream, Mono and Diglycerides, Carrageenan, Vanilla Syrup and Natural Flavor. First, mono-glycerides contains trans-fat and the consumption of trans-fat is strongly linked to type 2 diabetes and heart disease. The Center of disease Control and Prevention has in fact linked it to over 20,000 cases of heart attack annually and stated that trans-fat doesn’t have any health benefits to its users. Moreover, the whipped cream on top of this product also carrageenan in it (carrageenan has been known for causing digestion problems)

5. What techniques did they use for this ad

The main techniques they used for this ad is attention grabber (with their words) and visual imagery. Although it’s made pretty simple, as we always said simplicity is the key to success “If your coffee isn’t perfect, we’ll make it over. If it’s still not perfect, you must not be in a Starbucks”. This ad was written on what looks like a piece of canvas so it kept its classiness. At the bottom of the canvas paper we also see a cup of Starbuck coffee. This ad is such an attention grabber because it shows Starbucks’ arrogance. As they did this ads they were basically saying that they were the best coffee chain out there and there is no way that there coffee would taste bad. At the end of the canvas you also see another attention grabber “It’s not just coffee, it’s Starbucks” which I’m pretty sure is main message they are trying to convey here (the main campaign). The point here is to signify “Starbucks” making it more than just a cup of coffee you drink every morning to keep you awake and working, more like a sentimental product.

6. My opinion on Starbucks’ products

Overall, to be completely honest I do enjoy Starbucks’ products despite the ingredients they use in our drinks that might affect our health. I have a firm believe that if you don’t over use something then it can’t be affecting your life in a negative way. I’m sure all of us have at least had one of the products from Starbucks since we are pretty close to Seattle and that was where the whole company chain started. Starbucks is one of Seattle most famous company and we should respect them and their products. However I would not recommend any good friends or family members of mine to overuse coffee from Starbucks. According to mayoclinic.org, 400 mg of caffeine (which is the main ingredient in coffee) per day is safe for most healthy adults. Moreover, I also believe that we all have different side effects when we take coffee. I’ve had some, not too many friends/ family members that don’t really enjoy coffee because they feel aren’t capable of coping with coffee side effects such as nausea, upsetting stomach, migraine, faster heartbeat, etc. Also, I would not recommend coffee for any users under 18 years old. The reason for this is because adolescence and childhood times are used for bone strengthening. Too much caffeine for people under the age of 18 can interfere with calcium absorption and affects growth. Obviously, if high schoolers drink a few cups of coffee whenever they have a test or exams it’s totally acceptable, just don’t form a habit of doing so every day. As a college student, I consume around 300-400mg of caffeine every day and I feel like it’s a part of my life now. I take early morning classes and I have a part time job, as a result without coffee it would be really hard for me to stay focus and work efficiently. All in all, coffee (from Starbucks or not), is an acceptable form of stimulant that should be used in a smart manner that would help us perform better in our everyday’ lives

Citations:

1. Babe, Food. “Starbucks Finally Publishes Drink Ingredient List… Here Are The Worst Ones!”Food Babe, 13 Sept. 2016, foodbabe.com/2016/09/13/starbucks-finally-publishes-drink-ingredient-list/.
2. Mayo Clinic Staff. “Caffeine: How Much Is Too Much?” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 8 Mar. 2017, www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/caffeine/art-20045678.
3. “Ask the Experts: When Can Kids Start Drinking Coffee?” Healthline, Healthline Media, 11 June 2015, www.healthline.com/health/childrens-health/experts-when-can-kids-drink-coffee.
4. “Starbucks Company Statistics.” Statistic Brain, 1 Apr. 2017, www.statisticbrain.com/starbucks-company-statistics/.
5. Chan, Amanda L. “How Safe Is Splenda? CSPI Urges Caution for Artificial Sweetener.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 June 2013, www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/12/splenda-health-risks-cspi-leukemia-artificial-sweeteners_n_3431024.html.
6. “Starbucks.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Oct. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbucks.