In South Korea, the strained political environment has influenced the culture of coffee. Starbucks, a well-known coffee company, has suspended six names from use in beverage orders all of them belong to presidential candidates competing in the next election.
Move of Starbucks Aimed to Keep Politics Out of Cafés
The move seeks to keep politics out of the election season, which will end on June 3. A Starbucks Korea representative told NBC that the company implemented the policy “to prevent inappropriate and abusive use of the names.”
The action is in reaction to the increasing number of customers who use politicians’ names as nicknames when ordering beverages, and they almost always pair such names with messages of support or opposition. For example, customers have been ordering drinks with names such as “arrest Yoon Suk Yeol” or “[opposition leader] Lee Jae-myung is a spy”. Starbucks baristas would then use those names when announcing the readiness of the drinks, which could make other customers uneasy.
Banned Names Include Six Presidential Candidates
Starbucks has banned the names of six presidential hopefuls from being included in orders:
- Lee Jae-myung, the head of liberal opposition Democratic Party
- Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party
- Lee Jun-seok, the chairman of the Reform Party
- Kwon Young-kook
- Hwang Kyo-ahn
- Song Jin-ho
Political Stakes Rise Ahead of June 3 Election in South Korea
Lee Jae-myung is ahead in polls, Kim is gaining and he might be level with him if he can persuade Lee Jun-seok of the Reform Party to withdraw from the election and back him. South Korea will conduct presidential polls on June 3 following the ouster of President Yoon Suk Yeol on April 4 due to his attempted martial law coup in December that went awry. The move to block these names is one of many taken by businesses and celebrities to ensure neutrality in the extremely polarized political climate.
Naver and Other Tech Firms Follow Suit after Starbucks
Other firms, including Naver, South Korea’s top search engine, have also moved to ensure neutrality. Naver disabled autocomplete and related search recommendations for political candidates to present balanced and accurate information during the election campaign.
“Our goal is to make sure every customer has a great experience in our coffeehouses,” Starbucks said in a statement. “To help with that, we sometimes block certain phrases that could be misunderstood by our employees or customers like names of political candidates with messages of support or opposition during election season to maintain neutrality.”
