So Starbucks admitted it hasn't lived up to its own
policy to French press a cup of fair trade coffee for anyone who asks for it. And during meetings with and in letters to bloggers, the mermaid's promised to work on fixing its "
break down in customer service" -- at least in the LA area, which is a great start.
So during this first week of 2006, we're starting easy. We're wondering if Starbucks employees are aware which of their coffee blends are actually fair trade certified, as opposed to Starbucks' own internal "fairly traded" "certification." Considering that there's only one fair trade coffee in Starbucks -- Cafe Estima -- it shouldn't be that hard, as long as someone has taken the minute to let employees know that Cafe Estima's the fair trade blend. And to make it even easier, Cafe Estima's brewing as the coffee of the week this week (at least in the US & Canada)!
The Challenge1) Visit your local Starbucks this week (Jan 2 to Jan 8 ) and ask: "Could I get a cup of fair trade coffee?"
(Don't specify Cafe Estima!)2) Tell us what happened next. Ideally, the barista should immediately offer you a cup of Cafe Estima, which should already be brewing.
BLOGGERS: simply blog about what happened and tag it with "starbuckschallenge" (all one word) on
del.icio.us (put the Starbucks location in the "extended" description). We'll pull all articles into a feed. If you do not know about
del.icio.us, then just mention the phrase 'StarbucksChallenge' as one word in your post, and we'll catch it.
NON-BLOGGERS: tell us what happened by writing a comment on either
City Hippy or
green LA girl, or send an email to
City Hippy or
green LA girl, and we'll do the rest.
Win a prize!On
Jan. 9,
City Hippy and
green LA girl will award 2 prizes: 1 to the person who takes the most challenges, and 1 to the person with the most interesting, entertaining, educational, insightful, or funny report.
The prizes? An enviro-friendly, reusable, and chic
workplace dish set, and fair trade yummies from
Clipper-Teas.com provided by City Hippy.
Challenge resultsOn Jan. 9, City Hippy and green LA girl will take the challenge results to Starbucks, either commending them on their progress on barista education efforts about fair trade, or asking them to, um, work on that.
Take the challenge, and please feel free to let us know what YOU think our next step should be as activists, and what you think Starbucks' next step should be as a company that says it wants to be a leader in corporate social responsibility.
Have a fair trade day.
City Hippy and
green LA girlUseful 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.
FEED (del.icio.us/starbuckschallenge):Technorati tags:cityhippystarbucksstarbuckschallengebusinessguardianmainstream mediaCSRfairtradecoffeeLAUSAActivismUKLondon
My pal Masita asked me a while back if I knew of any organic and ethical food stores (stores that sell fruit, vegetables, wines, groceries etc) near to where she lives on the delicious Côte d'Azur (South of France mmmm - very jealous). I had a think and a quick hunt around and came up with a store not far from her in Nice. Well she finally got to visit the store and has posted a great review. Worth a read. Her delight reminds me of the first time I visited Fresh & Wild.
