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STARBUCKS: NOT GUILTY!
By Tim Siggia
November 17, 2004
In a previous column, I addressed the subject of an e-mail accusing Starbucks Coffee of not supporting our war effort in Iraq, nor anyone involved in it. I also expressed the strong possibility that the e-mail in question could be bogus, and that the charge against Starbucks could be false. I further expressed my personal hope that the accusations against this American company were false, and that neither Starbucks nor any other American company would issue a statement of non-support. It is my pleasure to report in this column that my suspicions were debunked, and my hopes confirmed.
In a public statement, Starbucks has denied that it ever expressed such sentiment, and said that the furor may have come about over a misunderstanding of the company's policy on charitable contributions. Starbucks emphatically states that it does and always has supported our men and women in uniform, and that it never said otherwise to anyone, nor has it made any statement intended to convey the alleged message of non-support.
I believe them.
As I said, my previous column allowed for the possibility of false charges, and hoped that the charges would prove false. That now has been determined to be so. But it is not enough for me to simply say that I "covered myself" in my previous column.
I therefore take what in my opinion to be the necessary next step: I publicly apologize to Starbucks, its subsidiaries, its staff and its customers for helping to perpetuate what now has been exposed as a hoax. Though I am still not a Starbucks customer myself, this is purely a matter of personal preference and has nothing to do with politics. With this column I hope to do my part in putting this whole unhappy business to rest, once and for all.
To Starbucks and all other honest American enterprises: May you continue to prosper.
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