The head of Starbucks Korea was dismissed after a marketing campaign triggered widespread backlash for reminding people of the violent military suppression of pro-democracy demonstrators in 1980.
Starbucks Korea’s operator, Shinsegae Group, which oversees the U.S. coffee brand in South Korea, said it removed Sohn Jeong-hyun from his position for conducting “inappropriate marketing.”
Sohn’s dismissal came hours after Starbucks launched its “Tank Day” campaign on Monday promoting what it called its “Tank” line of tumblers with the tagline “put it on the table with a sound of ‘Tak!'”
Democratisation Movement Day
Monday also marked Democratisation Movement Day, which commemorates the student-led Gwangju Uprising of May 1980, and the campaign drew strong criticism in South Korea.
Hundreds of people are estimated to have died or gone missing when the military dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan deployed troops and tanks to crack down on the protests. Many details remain unconfirmed, including who gave the order to open fire on the protesters. Chun finally stepped down in 1988 amid growing calls for democracy.
Critics also questioned the use of the phrase “tak” for echoing explanations by South Korean police in 1987 for the death of a student protester, who was found to have been tortured. At the time, police said the student died after investigators struck a desk making a “tak” sound, according to local media reports.
The company has withdrawn the campaign.
Companies Apologise
Writing on X on Monday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said he was “enraged” by Starbucks’ campaign and demanded it apologise to families of people killed during the uprising.
The campaign “tarnished the bloody protests of Gwangju citizens and the victims of the protests,” Lee said, calling it the act of a “degenerate peddler.”
Starbucks Korea posted a statement on its website apologising for the promotion while Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin also issued a public apology.
(With inputs from Reuters)
