Starbucks to give staff history training after backlash

Starbucks ‌Korea will shut all stores in the country at 3 p.m. on June 22 for staff training on historical awareness and social sensitivity, the operator Shinsegae Group said on Monday, following public backlash over a marketing campaign.

The ​coffee chain faced widespread criticism and suffered a “very significant” drop in sales after last ​month’s campaign that evoked a brutal 1980 military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Shinsegae’s affiliate ⁠E-Mart owns Starbucks Korea, which launched its ‘Tank Day’ tumbler promotion on the anniversary of the ​May 18 Gwangju Uprising, when the military government deployed troops and tanks to suppress pro-democracy demonstrations.

Starbucks ​Korea headquarters staff and executives from Shinsegae’s E-Mart division will undergo the same training on June 17 at the group’s in-house training centre, while Shinsegae Chairman Chung Yong-jin and affiliate CEOs will attend a separate session ​on June 24, the group said.

Shinsegae said the move reflected how seriously it viewed the ​recent marketing controversy and its commitment to preventing a recurrence. Chung previously apologised publicly over the controversy.

The history ‌awareness ⁠lecture, led by a history professor from Sungkyunkwan University, will review the major events in South Korea’s modern and contemporary history since the 1950s and discuss how they should be understood, it said.

A separate social sensitivity training, conducted by a sociology professor at the same university, will ​look at how companies ​should consider social ⁠issues such as history, labour, gender and human rights in marketing and other corporate activities, the company said.

The company said it would be the ​first nationwide early closure of Starbucks Korea stores since the chain opened ​in the ⁠country in 1999.

Starbucks Korea also plans to overhaul marketing approval procedures, including introducing a social-sensitivity checklist covering history, commemorative dates, politics, disasters, military issues, gender, violence and hate expressions, Shinsegae said.

Starbucks Korea ⁠had more ​than 2,000 stores in the country as of end-2024 ​according to its annual impact report. It is the country’s No. 1 coffee chain in terms of customer payments, ​according to data firm WISEAPP.