NEWS: Starbucks Challenge 2.0

So Starbucks agreed that according to its own policy, company stores should French-press a cup of fair trade coffee for you, any day of the week, in the 23 countries it is licensed to. And when, during the first month of the challenge, we found out otherwise, Starbucks admitted a "break down in customer service" and sent out some emails.

But things haven't improved since then.

Regardless of politics, most of us agree on one thing: If a company makes a promise, it should stick to it.

Join the challenge:
1) Simply visit your local Starbucks and ask: "Could I get a cup of fair trade coffee?"
2) Tell us what happens next. Was it hard or easy to get a cup?

BLOGGERS:
Simply blog about what happened and tag it with "starbuckschallenge" (all one word) on del.icio.us (put the Starbucks location in the description). We'll pull all articles into a feed and run that on our site - you can run the feed too, of course, if you'd like. ALSO help us get feedback by telling people about this challenge on your blogs.

NON-BLOGGERS:
Tell us what happened by emailing City Hippy or green LA girl, and we'll do the rest.

Win a prize
On Nov. 30, we'll select three people who contributed:

- Prize #1: A 12 oz bag of Monkey & Son Velvet Hammer fair trade organic coffee, for the challenger who challenges the most Starbucks in Los Angeles County.

- Prize #2: A 12 oz bag of Monkey & Son Velvet Hammer fair trade organic coffee, for the challenger who challenges the most Starbucks in the U.S., outside Los Angeles County.

- Prize #3: Fair trade yummies from Clipper-Teas.com, for the challenger who contributes the most amusing or informative post outside the United States."

Survey results
We'll be in frequent contact with Starbucks, but on November 30, City Hippy and green LA girl will contact Starbucks to find out what Starbucks thinks about the results of the challenge -- whether positive or negative -- and to get some concrete details as to what the company plans to do, if anything, in light of them.

Have a fair trade day.

City Hippy and green LA girl

Useful posts:
The Launch, 2.0, 3.0, Activism 2.0 (analysis of new wave of consumer activism), FAQ, challenges (del.icio.us) and finally the ever developing Google Map.

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