Consumer perception of Starbucks PLUMMETS after blowhard “10,000 refugee” idea

Consumer perception of Starbucks PLUMMETS after blowhard “10,000 refugee” idea

Just wow! The graphic below shows the hit that Starbucks has taken in its ‘perception’ among consumers since they announced they will hire 10,000 refugees worldwide over the next five years. It was a political stance they took against President Trump freezing the entry of refugees from seven Middle Eastern countries until sufficient vetting could be put in place to ensure the safety of all Americans from terrorists. The perception levels have fallen by a whopping two-thirds since CEO Howard Schultz announced his politically biased move. I bet their profits and stock have also taken a major hit.

This graph shows whether people have heard positive or negative things about Starbucks since their announcement. It’s glaringly obvious that what people are hearing is negative. Americans don’t like or approve of Starbucks’ leftist tilt. You shouldn’t mix politics with business… it never ends well. YouGov says that there’s ample reason to believe backlash will impact the chain’s bottom line. Two days before Starbucks’ announcement, 30% of consumers said they’d consider buying from Starbucks the next time they were craving coffee, the highest proportion in nearly a year. Now, the percentage is down to 24%, according to YouGov. Yikes! Glad I don’t own stock in them.

(Howard Schultz.Stephen Brashear / Stringer / Getty Images)

(Howard Schultz.Stephen Brashear / Stringer / Getty Images)

From Yahoo! Finance:

Starbucks’ brand has taken a beating since the company announced plans to hire 10,000 refugees worldwide in the next five years in response to Donald Trump’s executive order intended to prevent refugees from entering the US.

The coffee giant’s consumer perception levels have fallen by two-thirds since late January, according to YouGov BrandIndex.

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.

“We are living in an unprecedented time, one in which we are witness to the conscience of our country, and the promise of the American Dream, being called into question,” CEO Howard Schultz wrote in a letter to Starbucks employees about the plan.

The graphic below shows YouGov’s brand perception since October of last year. The red arrow points to when Starbucks announced its plan to hire 10,000 refugees.

Starbucks1

I saw quite a few out there that supported Starbucks’ support of refugees. But I saw even more who hated it and vowed to boycott them. You know things are real when people are willing to forego their morning coffee or go somewhere else for their fix. “Upon hearing about your decision to hire 10000 refugees instead of Americans I will no longer spend any money at Starbucks,” one such Facebook user wrote on Starbucks’ page in late January. Trust me, that was one of many. Starbucks ticked off a whole bunch of Americans with this stupid move.

Originally, I saw people saying that Starbucks was hiring these refugees here in the US. Not true… it is in every country that has a Starbucks. Similarly, it was said they were being hired in preference to veterans. Also not true… Starbucks has a program specifically aimed at hiring veterans. They’ve hired 8,000 veterans and military spouses since 2014. That is still less than 10,000 refugees though and still doesn’t make it right to advocate ignoring the rule of law.

Starbucks has earned this. I suspect that their CEO has political ambitions. He should just stick to coffee.

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton is an editor and writer for Right Wing News. She owns and blogs at NoisyRoom.net. She is a Constitutional Conservative and NoisyRoom focuses on political and national issues of interest to the American public. Terresa is the editor at Trevor Loudon's site, New Zeal - trevorloudon.com. She also does research at KeyWiki.org. You can email Terresa here. NoisyRoom can be found on Facebook and on Twitter.

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