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Starbucks' plain red holiday cups causing outrage among Christians

Lia Grainger

For many, the best way to gauge the season is to turn to Starbucks.

Spiced pumpkin latte in your cup? It’s fall! Clear cup with a green straw? Summer! Red cup decorated with snowflakes or Christmas trees? The Christmas season is upon us!

That is, until this holiday season. For this year, instead of releasing their usual holiday-themed cups, Starbucks has put forth a bold new design: a simple, solid red cup emblazoned with the company's ubiquitous logo.

Immediately, some Christians were up in arms, interpreting the lack of snowflakes (not an actual Christian symbol) and Christmas trees (a tradition rumoured to have pagan origins) as just another sign of the war on Christmas.

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One man in particular, an American evangelist named Joshua Feuernstein, posted a rant on Facebook, voicing his outrage at Starbucks’ politically correct cup.

“Do you realize that Starbucks wanted to take Christ and Christmas out of their brand new cups? That’s why they’re just plain red,” Feuerstein professes into the camera.

His solution to this affront to all things caffeinated and Christian? When your Starbucks barista asks you for your name, say “Merry Christmas.” Then the barrista has to write “Merry Christmas” on your cup, changing your politically correct plain cup back into a Christian one. And with that, the #MerryChristmasStarbucks hashtag was born.

While some individuals are following Feuerstein’s lead and posting selfies holding “Merry Christmas” Starbucks cups, the majority of commenters on Twitter have voiced concerns that this is even an issue.

Others pointed out that the prank isn’t exactly teaching Starbucks a lesson.

Of course, Starbucks was quick to take notice of the burgeoning outrage on Twitter. The company has since issued a response to the negative attention.

"Starbucks is inviting our customers to tell their Christmas stories in their own way, with a red cup that mimics a blank canvas," Starbucks shared in a statement to TODAY. "Over the past few years, our customers have been showcasing their work on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest, and we even held a contest to support this creativity. This year's design is another way we are inviting our customers to create their own stories on our cups.

"In response to the video, our core values as a company is to create a culture of belonging, inclusion and diversity. Each year during the holidays we aim to bring our customers an experience that inspires the spirit of the season and we will continue to embrace and welcome customers from all backgrounds and religions in our stores around the world."

Andrew Mark Miller, blogger for Youngcons.com, posted Feuerstein’s video as he summed up his own thoughts on the matter thusly.

“Anyway – this guy has a pretty sweet idea for people who still want to patronize Starbucks, but are upset that they’ve fallen victim to the anti-Christmas PC Police. And, you know – it might be worth heading out for a Starbucks hot chocolate one day, just to do this.”

If anger at the red cup is actually encouraging customers to buy hot chocolate just to prove a point, we’re guessing Starbucks is quite pleased with this year's holiday cup.