War on Christmas or Bickering over Coffee?

Eleni Aneziris, Commons Editor

Rapidly cooling temperatures means that Starbucks is once again rolling out its holiday-themed cups. This year, rather than decorating the traditionally red cups with snowmen, snowflakes, and Christmas ornaments, Starbucks instead decided to take a more minimalist route, simply painting them a solid red. And some people are very, very angry about that.

There is a general consensus within a small, but vocal group of Christians that, this year, Starbucks is launching a “war on Christmas.” They claim that by removing its designs, the coffee empire has become nothing short of, “radical liberal terrorists,” and they therefore plan to boycott the store this season.

Evangelist Joshua Feuerstein, however, decided that boycotting the coffee shop is not the solution. On November 5, he posted a video on Facebook where he says, “I think in the age of political correctness we become so open-minded our brains have literally fallen out of our head.” In the video, he tells a barista that his name is “Merry Christmas” so that she has to write that on his cup. At the end of the video, which now has over 12 million views, he encourages other “great Americans and Christians” to join his movement and do the same.

While many support these acts of rebellion, many others think that the outburst is absolutely ridiculous. One commenter on Feuerstein’s video writes, “If you need a coffee chain to be your ambassador of Christ, you need to re-examine your relationship with God.”

In reaction to all of this chaos, Starbucks simply responds, “This year’s design is another way Starbucks is inviting customers to create their own stories with a red cup that mimics a blank canvas.”