Yahoo Finance Starbucks’ holiday cups are a little more red and white than usual
Starbucks signature two-toned holiday red cups are getting a Canadian twist this season.
On Thursday, the coffeehouse chain rolled out cups featuring 13 distinct hand-drawn designs created by customers, including two Canadians.
Last December, Starbucks invited customers to share their visions of its holiday cups on Instagram with the hashtag #RedCupArt.
Artists were asked to decorate the cups with the themes of acceptance and coming together to enjoy the holidays despite religious differences.
In total, the company received more than 1,200 submissions from across 13 countries.
“We were surprised and inspired by the amount of incredible art submitted by our customers. The designs were beautiful, expressive and engaging,” Dena Blevins, creative director at Starbuck’s global creative studio,” said in a statement.
“We quickly realized there was potential to use the customer-created art for our holiday cups.”
Erica Donner, from Markham, Ont., and Anna, from Toronto, are among those whose designs will be served in more than 25,000 locations across 75 countries, according to CTV News.
Donner, who celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah, said she created her design which features an intricate pattern of white swirls, while hanging out with her sister who was recovering from knee surgery.
“My sister was stuck on the couch for a month, so we spent a lot of time colouring together,” Donner told CTV News.
Meanwhile, Anna adorned her cup using a traditional Ukrainian style called petrykivka. It features a cabin in a winter wonderland with a reindeer flying overhead.
The coffeehouse chain recently came under fire for releasing a green holiday cup, which features a mosaic of more than a hundred people drawn in a single continuous stroke.
“During a divisive time in our country, Starbucks wanted to create a symbol of unity as a reminder of our shared values, and the need to be good to each other,” Starbucks CEO and chairman, Howard Schultz, said in a statement.
The designed promoted outrage from critics who believe the company dropped another bombshell in a supposed “war on Christmas.”
But this isn’t the first time Starbucks has been criticized for its holiday cup artwork.
Last year, Starbucks’ plain-faced, red-and-burgundy design sparked a controversy online and even drew the ire of president-elect Donald Trump who proposed a potential boycott of the company.
