Analysis: Customer arrest likely to impact Starbucks’ revenues
Although Starbucks is a brand with a long-standing history of positive social action and community engagement, its recent controversy has done much to tarnish that carefully built reputation.
It is clear that the vast majority of Americans believe calling the police was the wrong thing to do. Such a strong view has likely been driven by videos of the occurrence, which prove that the men involved acted peacefully throughout the whole incident.
Even though the decision was taken by an individual manager, Starbucks as a corporation is shouldering much of the blame. Moreover, most people are unimpressed by the company’s follow-up.
While most people will take no action, the sizeable minorities saying their will use Starbucks less or boycott the chain for a bit is worrying. It underscores that the incident is likely to have a material impact on Starbucks revenues – even if only in the short term.
Details [from a U.S. nationally representative sample of 2,550 adults]:
• Thanks to the swirl of publicity surrounding the incident, 86.7% of American adults are aware of it. However, only 31.7% say they are fully aware of all the details.
• Almost three-quarters of people say that Starbucks is mostly to blame for the incident, with just over 19% saying the police were mostly to blame. Very few (2.1%) believe the men involved were mostly responsible.
• There are even stronger views on the question of whether the Starbucks manager was right to call the police. Here, just over 80% believe the action was wrong and only 5.4% think it was the right thing to do.
• Worryingly for Starbucks, consumers are generally unimpressed by the company’s subsequent handling of the situation. 12.4% of those questioned think Starbucks handled it either very well or quite well, compared to 72% who think it did either quite or very badly.
• Even more worrying for Starbucks is the damage done to its brand — 69.7% say that they think at least a little more negatively of Starbucks than they did before this incident. It is of scant comfort that a quarter say their views on the brand are unchanged.
• Despite all of this, the majority (60.5%) will take no action against Starbucks. However, almost 18% say they will boycott Starbucks for a bit, and 10.6% claim they will stop going there completely. The influence of social media is evident, with 23.4% saying that they have posted complaints on online platforms such as Twitter or Facebook.
It is clear that the vast majority of Americans believe calling the police was the wrong thing to do. Such a strong view has likely been driven by videos of the occurrence, which prove that the men involved acted peacefully throughout the whole incident.
Even though the decision was taken by an individual manager, Starbucks as a corporation is shouldering much of the blame. Moreover, most people are unimpressed by the company’s follow-up.
While most people will take no action, the sizeable minorities saying their will use Starbucks less or boycott the chain for a bit is worrying. It underscores that the incident is likely to have a material impact on Starbucks revenues – even if only in the short term.
Details [from a U.S. nationally representative sample of 2,550 adults]:
• Thanks to the swirl of publicity surrounding the incident, 86.7% of American adults are aware of it. However, only 31.7% say they are fully aware of all the details.
• Almost three-quarters of people say that Starbucks is mostly to blame for the incident, with just over 19% saying the police were mostly to blame. Very few (2.1%) believe the men involved were mostly responsible.
• There are even stronger views on the question of whether the Starbucks manager was right to call the police. Here, just over 80% believe the action was wrong and only 5.4% think it was the right thing to do.
• Worryingly for Starbucks, consumers are generally unimpressed by the company’s subsequent handling of the situation. 12.4% of those questioned think Starbucks handled it either very well or quite well, compared to 72% who think it did either quite or very badly.
• Even more worrying for Starbucks is the damage done to its brand — 69.7% say that they think at least a little more negatively of Starbucks than they did before this incident. It is of scant comfort that a quarter say their views on the brand are unchanged.
• Despite all of this, the majority (60.5%) will take no action against Starbucks. However, almost 18% say they will boycott Starbucks for a bit, and 10.6% claim they will stop going there completely. The influence of social media is evident, with 23.4% saying that they have posted complaints on online platforms such as Twitter or Facebook.