Starbucks is facing backlash for its 'Tank Day' event held on the 46th anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising on May 18.
According to industry sources, Starbucks promoted the event with the slogan 'Tank Day' as part of its 'Dante Tank Nasu Day' initiative. The promotional page also featured the phrase 'Bang! on the desk!'
This sparked criticism on online communities and social media, with many arguing that the expressions trivialized the Gwangju Uprising. Critics noted that the slogan evoked memories of the military's tank deployment during the uprising and the torture and death of activist Park Jong-cheol.
In 1987, during the Park Jong-cheol incident, the police announced, "He died after hitting the desk," which further fueled public outrage. Observers pointed out the similarity between this statement and the event's promotional language.
Netizens reacted with comments such as, "This sounds like something from Ilbe (a controversial online community)," and questioned why the 'Tank Day' event was scheduled for May 18, suggesting it was a deliberate provocation.
In response to the controversy, Starbucks changed the phrase 'Bang! on the desk!' to 'Bang~ during work' and rebranded 'Tank Day' to 'Tank Tumbler Day.' The company acknowledged the use of inappropriate language in the promotion and issued an apology, stating, "We sincerely apologize for causing discomfort and concern to our customers. We discovered that inappropriate phrases were used during the promotion of the Dante Tank Nasu tumbler as part of our Buddy Week event running until the 26th."
Starbucks emphasized that it would review and improve its internal processes to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Currently, the company has suspended the event, and access to the event page on its official website and app has been disabled.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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