Starbucks is widely known for its upscale coffee and a level of corporate social responsibility rarely found in a for-profit corporation of its magnitude. With its successful campaign raising awareness of their exclusive use of fair-trade coffee beans, consumers know they are purchasing from a socially responsible company. Furthermore, Starbucks have been using recyclable cups, further appealing to millennials and progressive consumers. However, they have recently been exposed of paying ridiculously low taxes in the UK.Over the course of 14 years ever since Starbucks penetrated the UK market 14 , it has only contributed to 8.5 million pounds. Campaign groups such as UK Uncut raised this issue, which resulted in a series of consumer backlash.

In response to the public outcry in UK, Starbucks has agreed to pay an additional 20 million pounds in tax over the next 2 years. Unfortunately for Starbucks, this did not douse the fire ; their twitter account was hacked. This resulted in a series of offensive tweets abusing the hashtag #spreadthecheer had messages like : “tax avoiding MoFo’s [sic]” and “Pay your F****ing taxes”  appearing on the giant screen of the National History Museum in London.

The full measure of the loss in sales and brand appreciation is still unclear, as these events occurred in December of 2012. Regardless, Starbucks appears to be struggling in the UK.

Of course, this is a result of UK’s spending budget cuts as a result of the economic recession. Many citizens are looking at large corporations to pay their fair share to reduce the deficit as an alternative.

In Starbucks’s defense, no company would willing pay more taxes than legally required unless pressured to do so. This event was an unforeseen circumstance that resulted from the public dismay with the government. By paying additional taxes, Starbucks attempted to restore their public image in the UK. Will this be effective enough? I believe it will.

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/starbucks-twitter-campaign-hijacked/4005161.article

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/starbucks-tax-move-a-wake-up-call-for-other-brands/4005112.article

One Does Not Simply Walk Into A Denny`s (Mordor) (The origin of the famous meme)

In the Land of Denny`s , where the Calories Lie. Denny`s has partnered up with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to bring forth a Hobbit-themed menu.   Being a Tolkien Fan at the age of 9, I was all geared up to watch “The Hobbit“ when it was announced to be released in December of 2012. It was not long before I saw a Denny`s ad  being satirized by The Colbert Report (Stephen Colbert is a Tolkien fanatic).

“Eat like a Hobbit, because at Denny`s`, you cant eat like a human“ -Stephen T. Colbert

With that, I decided to YouTube Denny`s `The Hobbit`ads and came upon this:

Fair enough, it looks `relatively legit` . So as a Tolkien fan, I took it upon myself to further investigate this `so-called` Hobbit-menu , released by Denny`s (with a touch of skepticism in the back of my mind; Another marketing ploy? This is gonna be bad) The entire menu was designed with a `Middle-Earth` touch, and I was impressed by the thoroughness of the menu designs. The Hobbit menu consisted of 10 items :

-Hobbit Hole Breakfast

-Shire Sausage Skillet

-Frodo’s Pot Roast Skillet

-The Ring Burger

-Gandalf’s Gobble Melt

-Dwarves’ Turkey & Dressing Dinner

-Lonely Mountain TreasureRadagast’s Red Velvet Pancake Puppies

-Bilbo’s Berry Smoothie

-Lone-Lands Campfire Cookie Milk Shake

After carefully examining the menu, my skepticism did not ease, YET, ironically, I was so hyped up in anticipation of the movie, that I was tempted to allow my taste buds to go on an Unexpected Journey .. to Denny’s ..  There have been mixed reviews of Denny’s campaign as of today, and it is still too early to tell whether it was successful from a marketing perspective(although I suspect that it was). Relating one’s product to someone/ something else is usually a good idea, as I have recently learned 🙂 Having never tried the menu items myself, I confess to being immune to Denny’s marketing ploy, perhaps  19 year old University students with healthy diets in mind were not a part of Denny’s target segment?

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2012/10/29/Dennys-The-Hobbit-Movie-Tie-In-102912.aspx