Starbucks Korea Faces Massive Boycott After ‘Tank Day’ Marketing Scandal

Translation result.A student group that announced a boycott blamed Shinsegae Group for responsibility in Starbucks Korea’s “Tank Day” marketing controversy, calling it “an insult to the May 18 Democratic Uprising,” and launched a consumer boycott. The Korean University Students’ Progressive Union (Daijin-yeon) held a press conference on the 23rd in front of Starbucks Korea’s headquarters in Gangnam, Seoul, and said it “strongly condemns Starbucks for trivializing a historic tragedy.” The group argued the incident was not a simple mistake but the product of accumulated attitudes. It singled out Shinsegae Group Chairman Jeong Yong-jin, saying the “Tank Day” episode reflected the far-right behavior and mindset he has displayed. The group added that responsibility should not be shifted onto one staff member; it demanded that Chairman Jeong personally apologize to the public and step down.Daijin-yeon also formally announced it would join the Starbucks boycott. Citing the decades of pain endured by May 18 victims and their families, the group said it could not let the matter pass and vowed that students would lead the boycott.Immediately after the press conference, protesters tossed Starbucks tumblers into trash bags and sprayed red Xs on placards bearing the Starbucks logo and a photo of Chairman Jeong.Starbucks Korea ignited the controversy on the 18th when it ran a tumbler promotion using phrases such as “Tank Day” and the meme-like phrase translated as “a thud on the desk.” Online critics argued those expressions evoked the military’s tank suppression during the May 18 uprising and the torture death of activist Park Jong-chul. The company suspended the promotion amid the backlash.As the controversy spread, Shinsegae Group dismissed Son Jeong-hyun, CEO of Starbucks Korea, and Chairman Jeong issued a public apology, calling the incident “an unforgivable mistake that treated the suffering of those who sacrificed for democracy lightly.”