Starbucks Spreads Its Legs for Old Times’ Sake

Starbucks is going old school for the Coffee Experience: sex, sex, sex. Pictured at right is my coffee cup today. You can click on it to go a bigger version (that is, if you want to see through the eyes of a mermaid gynecologist). This is the original logo (1971-1987), featuring a split-tailed baubo siren, butt-nekkid, except for the crown. Donning a pose most middle-aged women couldn’t attempt without pulling something and winding up at the ER, trying to explain to the nurse that she “fell down the stairs”.

The last time this logo graced these cups, angry mothers and feminists protested, telling the company execs that their kids were asking why her legs were spread. So what, in this increasingly protesting, easily offended nation, are they thinking?

Here’s what I think they’re thinking: CEO Howard Schultz, having recently returned from retirement, is shaking things up. Remember the free coffee the other day? $1.00 cups of coffee before that? Starbucks closed for a few hours one day to “retrain” their baristas. There was talk of getting rid of the breakfast sandwiches. This has to be part of that campaign to bring back the Coffee Experience.

And who the hell am I to talk like I know about such things? Well, let me tell you, nosey. Having read and reviewed a book that was the Fast Food Nation of Starbucks, I learned a little something. You’ll see the link for Starbucked in my Book Review section in the sidebar. And next time you’ll think twice before questioning my authoritahhhh!