The Church of Starbucks

I find Starbucks to be trendy and over-priced, and I just don't want to be a part of it. Sure, it's a great American success story, but enough already. My little suburb didn't need another one, but we just got another one about two blocks from an existing store. The few times I've ordered a cup of Starbucks coffee (in airports where it was the only option) I've asked for a small, black coffee. That tends to put a puzzled look on the faces of the Starbuckeroos, who pause and then ask, "Just a small, black coffee?"

Wieden & Kennedy put together a happy little campaign for the Coffee Monsters that invites us all to "pass the cheer" this holiday season. Here we have one of the four full-page ads taken out in today's New York Times Magazine promoting the notion of spreading good deeds via Starbucks. It works in conjunction with their oddly named website, It's Red Again. (A headier conversation about the new Starbucks stuff is going on over at Brand Autopsy.)


While not nearly as obnoxious as the effort by Sun Chips and their "Live Brightly" campaign last summer, I'm not going to let the coffee store that hypnotized a nation (and then the world) evangelize me into their cult of do-gooder coffee drones. You are selling coffee, Starbucks, not doing penance for driving all other coffee shops out of business. And anyway, if I do something nice, I'll do it anonymously. In secret. Far, far away from your website.

Besides, if some random dude in a mall hands you a cup of coffee, are you going to drink it?



















Anon haters will henceforth be deleted. I have nothing against W+K. Just this campaign.

Snoop Nutty Nutt

From Seattle-based Design Commission comes Pimp My Nutcracker, a fun holiday diversion as the cubes empty and the boss is away.

Via Angie at TheAgencyBlog