Starbucks Korea closes stores early for training after promotion backlash
A marketing slogan tied to Gwangju forced Starbucks Korea to shut every store early for training. The backlash also cost its local chief executive his job.
Starbucks Korea will close every store in South Korea at 3 p.m. on June 22 for three hours of training on historical awareness and social sensitivity, turning a marketing misstep into a companywide disruption for workers on the floor. The shutdown comes after a promotion sparked a boycott and pushed the chain into damage control, with airport outlets reportedly left out of the closure.
The backlash began with a May 18 campaign called Tank Day, launched on the anniversary of South Korea’s Gwangju Democratic Uprising, which began in 1980 and was crushed by military force. Critics said the campaign’s language evoked tanks used against protesters, and the company later suspended the event and apologized. Starbucks Korea also suffered what Reuters-based reports described as a very significant drop in sales, a reminder that a cultural blunder at the top quickly becomes a labor problem when foot traffic falls and store teams absorb the fallout.
Shinsegae Group, which oversees the Korean operator, fired Starbucks Korea’s local chief executive, Son Jeong-hyun, in May over what it called inappropriate marketing. The company said chairman Chung Yong-jin, along with executives and managers, would undergo similar training separately, underscoring that the response is not being treated as a barista-only issue. Reports said the lessons will use videos and focus on historical awareness and social sensitivity.
The June 22 shutdown will be the first simultaneous closure of all Starbucks stores in South Korea since the company opened there in 1999, and the chain has more than 2,000 stores in the country. That scale matters for workers because the decision affects scheduling, staffing, and sales across a market that is one of Starbucks’ biggest overseas operations. For U.S. baristas and shift supervisors, the episode is a blunt example of how brand management, labor, and morale can collide: a promotion conceived in an office can end up changing the workday in every store.
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