Key facts
- Starbucks Korea will close all stores for half a day on June 22 for staff training.
- The training is to educate employees on historical awareness and social sensitivity.
- The move follows a "Tank Day" promotion that caused significant public backlash.
- The promotion's date and name coincided with the anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising.
- The controversy led to boycotts, a drop in payment volumes, and executive dismissals.
Starbucks stores across South Korea will close for half a day on June 22 for staff to attend mandatory history and ethics training, following a promotional campaign that sparked widespread public anger and boycotts.
The coffee giant's South Korean division ran a "Tank Day" promotion on May 18, coinciding with the 46th anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, a violent military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters where at least 165 civilians were killed. The promotion also featured a "Tank" tumbler range and a slogan that echoed a police explanation for a student activist's torture death in 1987.
The campaign's date, wording, and imagery reopened painful historical wounds, leading to public uproar. Customers smashed Starbucks merchandise, deleted loyalty apps, and cashed out prepaid balances, with card payment volumes reportedly dropping 26% in a week. Government ministries also cut ties with the chain.
Shinsegae Group, which operates Starbucks under a licensing agreement, fired its South Korea chief executive, Son Jeong-hyun, on the day the scandal broke. Chairman Chung Yong-jin issued multiple apologies, including a televised press conference where he bowed three times, but bereaved families and victims' groups rejected his apologies.
Starbucks Korea, the company's third-largest market globally with over 2,000 stores, has pledged company-wide education on historical awareness and ethics to address the controversy.