Starbucks Backs Off on ‘Race Together’ Campaign

The long, strange journey of Starbucks’ heavily-ridiculed “Race Together” campaign has come to a close – sort of.

In a letter to brand partners, CEO Howard Schultz said baristas will no longer be writing “Race Together” on customers’ cups as of Sunday, March 22 – an end date he said was always planned.

However, Schultz went on to say the brand’s focus on U.S. race relations will continue in other ways.

“We have a number of planned ‘Race Together’ activities in the weeks and months to come: more partner open forums, three more special sections co-produced with USA Today over the course of the next year, more open dialogue with police and community leaders in cities across our country, a continued focus on jobs and education for our nation's young people plus our commitment to hire 10,000 opportunity youth over the next three years, expanding our store footprint in urban communities across the country, and new partnerships to foster dialogue and empathy and help bridge the racial and ethnic divides within our society that have existed for so many years,” he stated.

Schultz also briefly touched on the criticism the brand faced upon the announcement of the campaign, but said he never expected “universal praise.”

While most critics would likely say they were opposed to the execution of the campaign, not the idea behind it, chances are most people are just happy to know they can purchase their morning mocha without being asked how they feel about modern race relations.