'It Starts With Your Name' | 'Boycott Starbucks' trends over coffee giant's viral transgender ad

New Delhi, India

The latest ad campaign of coffee giant Starbucks on transgenders triggered a controversy as many users called it a promotion of the “Woke culture” and the hashtag “Boycott Starbucks” trended on Twitter.

On Wednesday, a campaign was launched by the American coffeehouse chain with the title ‘it starts with your name’ to give a message of acceptance and inclusivity in society. Under the campaign, a video was shared by Starbucks India which featured a transgender woman who was meeting her parents at one of its outlets.

In the video, a transgender woman with the name “Arpita” appears to be meeting her parents after a long time. The father of the woman looks upset over some situation, while the mother tries to calm him down.

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When Arpita reaches the coffee shop, she introduces herself to her parents as “Arpita and not Arpit”, which was her birth name. Her initially hesitant parents finally accept her actual identity and the ad ends with the three enjoying the Starbucks together after her father reassures her, “You will always be my child. Just a single letter has been added to your name.”

Starbucks India captioned the viral post, “Your name defines who you are – whether it’s Arpit or Arpita. At Starbucks, we love and accept you for who you are. Because being yourself means everything to us. #ItStartsWithYourName.”

Instantly, the campaign faced severe backlash on Twitter, as people criticised it for promoting the “Woke culture”.

“Fail to understand the need for a multinational to get into sensitive topics in a country of hypersensitive people. Huge dent in the brand!!”, wrote a user. Starbucks be like “We are WOKEs! So let’s all be WOKEs together!!”, another user said.

“Tata is big time woke. They own Starbucks, Tanishq (remember that ad?). They fund The Wire, Harvard, Cornell, etc. But are smart enough to sell their products with nationalism (desh ka namak, desh ke truck, army themed ads). Funds all political parties good as well,” wrote a social media user.

“Seriously, we will deal with our issues when they come up; the last thing I need is preaching by a Western MNC. You take care of serving coffee,” commented another user.

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However, some netizens even applauded Starbucks for coming up with such a campaign. “Dear Starbucks, These days common sense is very uncommon so some bigots won't understand the emotion. This is an incredible ad so let's hope that the LGBTQ+ community finds more such allies,” wrote a user in support of the campaign.

The campaign has been launched at a time when the issue of legalising same-sex marriage is being debated in the Supreme Court and the decision over the matter is yet to come.

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