*Some Christians are accusing Starbucks of trying to downplay Christmas with its new holiday-themed cups.
In previous years, the coffee company featured Christmas-themed designs like snowflakes, ornaments and nature scenes during the months of November and December.
This year, the cups are just red.
Jeffrey Fields, Starbucks’ vice president of design, said his “red ombre” design was meant to embrace “the simplicity and the quietness” of the holiday season.
Conservative blog Breitbart.com was first to suggest that red cups are somehow taking the Christ out of Christmas with its all-caps headline: WAR ON CHRISTMAS: STARBUCKS RED CUPS ARE EMBLEMATIC OF THE CHRISTIAN CULTURE CLEANSING OF THE WEST.
“This is a denial of historical reality and the great Christian heritage behind the American Dream that has so benefitted Starbucks,” Andrea Williams of the U.K.-based organization Christian Concern told Breitbart. “This also denies the hope of Jesus Christ and His story so powerfully at this time of year.”
Some folks agreed with the article:
My Christmas mentality: If a store won’t promote Christmas re Starbucks, I’m not spending my hard earned money there https://t.co/dfNTiwSojI
— Chuck Nellis (@ChuckNellis) November 5, 2015
While others don’t understand the outrage over a cup:
If you need a coffee chain to be your ambassador of Christ you need to re-examine your relationship w/God #MerryChristmas #Starbucks — Ron Burr (@arrpeebee) November 7, 2015
And there were those who wrote off the controversy as a marketing ploy:
Is #MerryChristmasStarbucks really a thing? Or is it just marketing by @Starbucks ? Can’t imagine that many people are upset over a cup.
— Luke Garvey (@Luke_Garvey) November 8, 2015
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