Starbucks Korea closes early for mandatory history sensitivity training

Starbucks Korea closed every store in the country at 3 p.m. on June 22, shutting all 2,160 locations for mandatory history and social sensitivity training after a marketing campaign drew public backlash.

Shinsegae owns a 67.5 percent stake in Starbucks Korea. Headquarters staff and executives from Shinsegae’s E-Mart division took the training on June 17, and Shinsegae Chairman Chung Yong-jin and other affiliate CEOs were scheduled for a separate session on June 24.

Two professors from Sungkyunkwan University led the sessions. One lecture focused on South Korea’s modern and contemporary history since the 1950s. A separate sociology class covered how companies should handle history, labor, gender and human rights in marketing and other corporate activity. Starbucks Korea will also rewrite its marketing approval process with a social-sensitivity checklist that flags history, commemorative dates, politics, disasters, military issues, gender, violence and hate expressions.

The backlash started with Starbucks Korea’s “Tank Day” tumbler promotion, launched on May 18, the anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising. The campaign used a stainless-steel tumbler series called “SS Tank” and the slogan “Thwack it on the table!” Critics said the language echoed a 1987 police statement tied to the torture death of student activist Park Jong-chol, and argued the promotion mocked victims of the Gwangju crackdown. Shinsegae pulled the promotion within hours and fired the chief executive of Starbucks Korea.

Chung later issued a televised apology and bowed three times on May 26. Police opened an investigation after complaints from relatives of Gwangju victims, and the May 18 Gwangju Uprising victims’ foundation and three related associations sent a protest letter to Starbucks headquarters on June 1 demanding a corporate investigation, discipline for Starbucks Korea, a formal apology and preventive measures. The company also faced boycott calls and a “very significant” sales drop.