Police raid Starbucks Korea headquarters over ‘Tank Day’ event
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A Starbucks outlet at Starbucks Korea’s headquarters in Seoul on Aug 5.
PHOTO: EPA
- South Korean police raided Starbucks Korea headquarters over the controversial “Tank Day” marketing campaign accused of insulting democracy movement victims.
- Starbucks Korea swiftly withdrew the promotion, apologised, dismissed its CEO, and Shinsegae executives issued public apologies amid widespread backlash.
- The company closed all stores early for mandatory history and sensitivity training to rebuild trust and address cultural sensitivities in South Korea.
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SEOUL – The South Korean police searched Starbucks Korea’s headquarters in Seoul on Aug 5, Yonhap News reported, as part of an investigation into a marketing campaign that has become one of the country’s biggest recent corporate public-relations crises.
The raid by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency came months after the coffee chain’s “Tank Day” promotion was accused of insulting victims of South Korea’s democracy movement, sparking boycott calls, condemnation from South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, and forcing executives to apologise.
Shinsegae Group, which owns a controlling stake in Starbucks Korea, confirmed the raid took place, without giving details. Calls to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency went unanswered.
The controversy erupted in May, when Starbucks Korea promoted discounts on its “Tank” tumbler collection.
The launch coincided with the anniversary of the Gwangju uprising on May 18, 1980, when South Korea’s then-military junta deployed soldiers in tanks to crush a protest in the southern city, killing hundreds.
Yonhap News reported that the raid was connected to a defamation complaint filed by a civic group against Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin, for allegedly insulting the victims and their bereaved family members.
Chung has issued multiple public apologies after the promotional campaign.
South Korea is Starbucks’ largest market outside of the US and China.
The incident sparked quick backlash and snowballed beyond social media, exposing the risks for Starbucks’ largest market outside the United States and China.
It also underscored the delicate political and cultural balance consumer brands face in one of Asia’s most historically sensitive markets.
In the aftermath of the controversy, Starbucks Korea dismissed chief executive Son Jung-hyun in response. US-based Starbucks issued a statement calling the campaign “unacceptable”.
South Korea’s President Lee also weighed into the debate and condemned the promotion.
The controversy also prompted Starbucks to publicly apologise despite having ceded operational control of the South Korean business to Shinsegae several years ago.
Starbucks Korea has sought to rebuild trust through an unusually sweeping response. It shut all of its more than 2,000 stores early for mandatory history and social-sensitivity training, the first nationwide early closure since the chain entered South Korea in 1999. Shinsegae executives, including Chung, also took part in separate education sessions.
Shinsegae’s supermarket chain E-Mart owns a 67.5 per cent stake in Starbucks Korea, with the remainder owned by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. BLOOMBERG
