Starbucks brand and image plummeted after the CEO announced the company would hire 1000 Muslim refugees to protest President Donald Trump’s immigration freeze, according to reports.
The coffee giant’s consumer-perception levels have fallen by two-thirds since late January, Yahoo! Finance reports. The perception-tracker measures if respondents have “heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative.” In Starbucks’ case, perception is still overall positive, but significantly lower than it was prior to CEO Howard Schultz published a public letter outlining the company’s plans to give refugees jobs.
Schultz also vowed to hire men and women who are part of the DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act, that is, they arrived illegally to the country as children.
Almost immediately after Schultz’s open letter, calls for the boycott began.
“You are very wrong and stepped over my American line and beliefs. American First and forever,” Business Insider quotes one protester.
Another wrote: “Hiring 10k refugees makes liberals feel warm BUT we have homeless vets that need those jobs.#BoycottStarbucks#ReasonsToProtest #MuslimBan.”
Conservatives also boycotted Target when the retail giant announced they would allow transgender people to use the restroom/dressing room of their choice. Since the boycott started, the retailer “reported weaker-than-expected same-store sales during the holidays,” according to Investor’s Business Daily, with November-December same-store sales falling 1.3 percent compared to a year ago. {eoa}
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