Some cynical people, (not us, mind you) are starting to suspect that the news stories popping up all over the U.S. about Starbucks “cheer chains” might be planted by Starbuck’s PR team.
What is a “cheer chain?” You mean, you don’t already know? Why, it’s when someone randomly decides to pay for the coffee of the stranger behind them in line. Said stranger then, so moved by this completely altruistic gesture that was in no way motivated by Starbucks’ PR team, pays for the coffee of the person behind them! And so on! And it just keeps going until it the news of this remarkable show of human kindness reaches a reporter whose name is, (swear to god) Mary Pickels.
Starbucks denies feeding the stories to news outlets, claiming that the “Cheer Chain” stories just prove that there is “holiday cheer going around” and that the folks at Starbucks “are simply encouraging folks to pass on what comes around.”
Starbucks “Cheer Chain” Website
Cheer chain spreads goodwill in Starbucks drive-through [Pittsburgh Tribune]
Man pays for coffee of customer behind him, starts chain [WIS10]
Latte it Forward? [Metafilter]
Is Savvy Marketing the Missing Link in Starbucks’ ‘Cheer Chains’? [RADAR]
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@AlisonAshleigh:
Since you’re standing in line with them, doesn’t that also make YOU an asshole yuppie?
@ 92BUICKLESABRE
OMG I think I peed my pants just a little…..
@meadandale:
I actually do not think I have EVER been into a starbucks, to be honest.
This would just make me mad. It’s such a smug, empty gesture – “Oh, look at me and my holiday spirit, buying you a drink!” Just go away. It’s gift enough to me that I don’t have to smile and act grateful for your 4 bucks, which I am then expected to turn around and donate to the person behind me anyway. I just want to get my coffee and get out, thanks.
Why not just have the first person in line buy the last person in line a drink in addition to their own and skip all those people in the middle who aren’t really getting the of it benefit anyway?
Just a thought.
What a bunch of friggen cynical a-holes! You all need to lighten the fuck up.
My wife and I have done this before (at Starbucks, even) and –GASP– it wasn’t even around the holidays! Sometimes it’s just nice to do something spontaneously nice for a stranger.
If the person in front of you at whatever store decided to pay for part or all of your order, would you be as vitriolic as you are being here, or would you see it as a random act of kindness?
If everyone is buying someone else a coffee, doesn’t it kind of cancel itself out after a while? Maybe they should have rules, like, you can only buy a stranger a coffee if
1) there’s only one other person waiting in line or
2) there’s no one so it’s totally anonymous so you’ll have that kind stranger thing going on
3) the person getting the free coffee, if they don’t keep the chain going, has to promise to help someone in need by signing a contract or something, or perhaps start a new chain somewhere else then come back and prove it so the “random act of kindness” does not go unrewarded.
I may be wrong about this – I’ve been out of the USA for a while – but wasn’t there a commercial on TV where a woman pays for a drink or lunch for the guy behind her in a McDonald’s drive through?
It seems a nice gesture, but immediately loses all value when it becomes contrived, expected, preached, marketed, etc.
The value is in the spontaneity. The minute someone gives it a name (particularly something really stupid like “cheer chain”) – and recipients are “expected” to repeat it, it’s crap.
if this much energy were spent on tutoring kids, or feeding the hungry
I’ve got nothing against Starbucks, and don’t really think they started this whole thing (though they’re probably happy to promote it), but…
How about each person in line skip their $5 mocha-soy-foam-accino and donate that money to a food bank or homeless shelter? Or just hand it to a person on the bus who looks like they could use it? Now THAT would be in the spirit of the holidays.
Just buying an expensive coffee for someone who can easily afford it (and after someone just bought yours) is a silly exercise in making people feel like they’ve done something good for the world.
@AlisonAshleigh:
I’ve seen the Starbucks kiosks and stores but have yet to go in one on purpose though I did read the book or article about the guy who created them. From my view they took a commodity and turned it into a specialty and attempt to fill the human need for connection with others in a high tech world.
My grandfather would have spit on specialty coffee- “youse drink you coffee out of a mug or a paper cup”
I work for SBUX and I could tell you some stories.
Ugh…”Cheer Chain” is too corny for words and sounds like something from an SNL skit or something.
That being said, it is a nice thing to do a random person a random favor. And by the way, all you “OMG I NEVER go to Starbucks people”…bragging about not going to Starbucks or thinking their coffee is bad is annoying and really old. We get it, you are very cool and non-conformist, yay for you.
Also, the rage-spewing about people who buy expensive coffee is getting trite. If a person wants a complicated and/or more-like-a-dessert $5 coffee drink, what the hell is it to you? Most people who talk crap about that probably don’t think twice about spending $20, $30 or more on booze on any given night, and that’s even more of a waste of money IMO.
I called a friend who works for Starbucks marketing who participated in this “PR stunt.” Not sure I agree. I blogged about it here:
[tinyurl.com]
I was involved in a “cheer chain” a while ago, though of a different stripe. Involving sleep-overs, feigned sleep, wandering hands and barely-believable excuses of “experimentation”.
Annoyed Starbucks didn’t make me a certificate, though.