Starbucks CEO: No Tolerance for Traditional Marriage Supporters

The Examiner ^ | 3/23/15 | Victor Medina

[jonatron]

At the Starbucks annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday, CEO Howard Schultz sent a clear message to anyone who supports traditional marriage over gay marriage: we don't want your business. After saying Starbucks wants to "embrace diversity of all kinds," he told a shareholder who supports traditional marriage that he should sell his shares and invest in some other company.

According to a report by Forbes, Schultz seemed a bit intolerant of any Starbucks shareholders who opposed gay marriage for moral or religious reasons. During the meeting, shareholder Tom Strobhar (who founded the Corporate Morality Action Center) pointed out that after the company voiced its support for a referendum backing gay marriage in Washington state, a boycott by traditional marriage supporters caused a drop in sales revenue.

Schultz told him "You can sell your shares in Starbucks and buy shares in another company" if he did not agree with the company's pro-gay marriage stand.

Victor Medina writes for Yahoo News and his political blog WhenLiberalsAttack.com. His other writing credits include The Dallas Morning News and SportsIllustrated.com. He has served as a Dallas County election judge and on the Board of Directors of The Sixth Floor Museum. You can follow him on his blog, VictorMedina.com or on Twitter at @mrvictormedina. He can be reached by email at vic@victormedina.com. Click here to receive a weekly email update from WhenLiberalsAttack.com.

[rights with responsibilities]

Brilliant marketing strategy ( sarcasm intended)...alienate and carve away potential customers until only the Elite may purchase the product with the company’s permission

[left that other site]

I do not go where I am not welcome, nor do i willingly give money to people who hate me.

[Red Badger]

Chik-fil-A sells coffee.................

[bray]

Marxists are tolerant of everyone except those who disagree with them. He is going to feel this one since nearly half of his customers were just told they are not welcome in his stores.

Pray America is waking

[left that other site]

Didn’t the Rolling Stones write a song about starbucks?

Oh no...wait.. that was starF...

never mind.....

[Unam Sanctam]

I do go to Starbucks, but because of this, I will cease.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I can't boycott Starbucks because I never buy their swill coffee. It tastes absolutely awful.

That's because it is over roasted on purpose to make it seem darker and richer than it is.

You must have a palate for lighter coffees. I like the strong stuff but not the way SB does it. I went to a Starbucks once years ago. Never again...and not because of the coffee.

[Disambiguator]

In the movie “Idiocracy,” the hamburger chain Fuddruckers was named “Butt******s.” Starbucks had become a house of prostitution. Maybe we’re closer than we think to the year 2505 (or whenever that movie was set).

[Nuocmam]

The only time I will ever drink the over priced, poor quality crap they sell for coffee is under captive conditions eg certain airports and such. Maybe in their earlier days they had a good cup of coffee but I have never had one.

[4yearlurker]

I like and miss my Wawa coffee. Also I've always liked McDonald's coffee too.

[IronJack]

"You can sell your shares in Starbucks and buy shares in another company"

Yes, you can. And you can urge all your friends and acquaintances to do the same. And you can urge them all to avoid purchasing any product from Starbucks.

That is what free enterprise is all about. It worked very well for JC Penney.

[Gamecock]

Easy for me, I don’t buy their crap anyway.

[needmorePaine]

I like and miss my Wawa coffee.

Wawa's the best. And not just for coffee.

[Sans-Culotte]

I can't boycott Starbucks because I never buy their swill coffee. It taste absolutely awful.

I've always liked their coffees. I like ridiculously strong coffee that borders on espresso. My favorite of theirs is the Verona Dark roast. So, that puts me in a position to boycott their coffee. I can live with the fact that their company has views contrary to mine, but the intolerant attitude they show to differing views (to the point they don't even want my business), and the ridiculous race-bating campaign they recently tried means it is time to move on. I almost never bought beverages in their stores anyway, but I have bought their coffee beans and ground coffees for years. No more. If I brew coffee, I will use Peet's from now on, or I will continue to buy Peet's and Barista Prima Italian K-cups for my Keurig machine.

[Boogieman]

Well, you know, publicly held companies don’t really get to tell the public whether to buy or sell their stock. That’s the public’s decision. If every American who believed in traditional marriage bought just one share of Starbucks’ common stock, I bet we could set the agenda at the next shareholder’s meeting.

[VRWC For Truth]

Schultzy is intent on cratering his sales.

[pepsionice]

When you have a successful product....you sell the product...not some moral theme deal which is connected to the product. Any successful businessman knows that (ten lessons of a successful long term product).

Something tells me that they are about to engage in a loss strategy and watch a quarter of their market share drop in one year. Just firing the CEO won’t be enough, and I’ll go ahead now and make this 2016 prediction....they get sold off to someone else in the market, or they rebrand the entire product.

Years ago, I had some professor who did a business introduction class, and one night...he did the ten lessons of life about a business. He’d actually started three businesses and watched two of them go into ‘epic failure’. One of the lessons of the failures was that you never involve morale lessons in the product you have or twist it into some political statement. Once you do that....half the crowd will hate you and you lose your customer base.

[Mouton]

Starbucks Board. If anyone thinks this guy is going anywhere, think again. Just don’t buy their stuff:

Howard Schultz
Starbucks
founder, chairman, president and chief executive officer

William (Bill) Bradley
Allen & Company LLC
managing director

Robert M. Gates
former Secretary of Defense

Mellody Hobson
Ariel Investments, LLC
president

Kevin Johnson
Juniper Networks, Inc.
retired chief executive officer

Olden Lee
PepsiCo, Inc.
retired executive

Joshua Cooper Ramo
Kissinger Associates
vice chairman

James Shennan, Jr.
Trinity Ventures
general partner emeritus

Clara Shih
Hearsay Social, Inc.
chief executive officer

Javier Teruel
Colgate - Palmolive Company
retired vice chairman

Myron Ullman, III
J.C. Penney Company, Inc.
chief executive officer

Craig Weatherup
Pepsi-Cola Company
retired chief executive officer

[4yearlurker]

Yep,I grew up in South Jersey and always liked Wawa. Back then it was the place to buy,Boiled ham,white American cheese,Fresh round rolls.Franks soda,and milk.

[Roman_War_Criminal]

Exactly...I used to buy their shit for coffee, but no more.

I’ll wash my hands of this product from here on out.