Cancel 'Cancel Culture': Tata-Starbucks faces boycott calls from netizens over trans-inclusive ad
A few days before Pride month, Starbucks came out with a trans inclusive campaign #ItStartsWithYourName but faced backlash from netizens for supporting the transgender community. But why?
A few days before Pride Month, Starbucks India created a trans-inclusive campaign #ItStartsWithYourName. The film shows a family union wherein a transgender woman meets her parents after a long time for coffee at Starbucks. It is implied that her father has had issues with her identity in the past.
Your name defines who you are - whether it's Arpit or Arpita. At Starbucks, we love and accept you for who you are. Because being yourself means everything to us. #ItStartsWithYourName. 💚 pic.twitter.com/DKNGhKZ1Hg
— Starbucks India (@StarbucksIndia) May 10, 2023
Within a few minutes there was a barrage of tweets from people calling Starbucks woke and propagandist.
Tata is big time woke. They own Starbucks, Tanishq (remember that ad?). They fund The Wire, Harvard, Cornell, etc. But are smart enough to sell their products with nationalism (desh ka namak, desh ke truck, army themed ads). Funds all political parties good as well.
— THE SKIN DOCTOR (@theskindoctor13) May 11, 2023
If you wanted to normalise it, you should have used a transwoman who looks like 99% of them. By using one who looks & sounds like a woman set impossible standards that will lead to more mental health issues in trans people and their self harm rates will go up. Shame on u. pic.twitter.com/1slId7l4TA
— Eminent Intellectual (@total_woke_) May 12, 2023
An ongoing case demanding legality of same-sex marriage has been taking place in the Supreme court. Storyboard18 has reached out to multiple brands but most have refused to comment on inclusive practices at their workplace or creating a space for queer community in their brands.
It seems that Starbucks has taken a stand, even though in the past, brands have been accused of using the Pride Month for rainbow washing and clout chasing.
Patruni Chidananda Sastry (they/he/she), a non-binary and bisexual drag artist feels as trans people often face discrimination in public spaces whenever they try to access, being a coffee shop and welcoming trans individuals is definitely an example for a lot of brands to be trans-inclusive.
“The backlash we are receiving is a testament that there is hate being induced on us deliberately to curtail our freedom of accessing something as simple as a coffee. Trans people in public spaces have often triggered the conservatives as they want us to not be visible at all. It's high time that brands be with us and ensure to create more inclusive and diverse campaigns as they know those would change the mindset. It's high time brands be loyal to the cause and take risk,” Sastry shares
The LGBTQIA community seems to think that brands should normalise PRIDE instead of sensationalizing it, as Sushant Divgikr says. Divgikr who was crowned Mr Gay 2014 is a social media influencer, reality tv star and drag queen among other things. Watch his views here.
#PrideMonth | "Let's not celebrate Pride for only one month. We are alive all the other months." 🔥
— Storyboard18 (@BrandStoryboard) May 12, 2023
Sushant Divgikr @thedivasushant asks brands to NOT sensationalize LGBTQIA representation 💡#Pride2023 #rainbowwashing #Marketing #media #LGBTQIA
Here are Divgikr's views pic.twitter.com/NWS2PmDIW7
Like Divgikr, Sastry too feels that the queer community needs publicity as it takes ages to ensure that the bias is gone. “Brands just doing a pride campaign is definitely hypocrisy, brands need to take a stand and invite diverse communities with sensibility and then put it across to people. “
Karthik Srinivasan, a communications consultant says, “I loved the ad. Starbucks has done the same thing in the UK and Brazil. In India, they have incorporated the ad with cultural nuances. The ad was inclusive, honest and truthful. I don’t understand the anger. But in the larger context, Budweiser in the US also did an inclusive and friendly ad with trans people and it also got backlash. If people don’t like something, they don’t want brands to associate with it."
Parmesh Shahani, LGBTQIA inclusion consultant and author of the book Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion in the Indian Workplace, says “ I am happy that Starbucks has used its advertising to communicate a message of trans inclusion just as many companies and brands like Brooke Bond and Fast Track have done in the past. All of these companies understand that LGBTQIA inclusion is a win-win proposition; all the data indicates that being inclusive makes you more money, makes you more innovative and wins the loyalty of gen Z and millenials - their present and future customers..”
He further states, “Given that 6-10 percent of our country might be LGBTQIA and that society is changing very rapidly in terms of acceptance at colleges homes and workplaces, all these brands have understood that the future is undoubtedly LGBTQIA inclusive and are using their ads to participate in it.”
Shahani feels trolling is a relatively short-term phenomenon in today’s day and age. “But committing to a cause is a much deeper and long term purpose and brands that continue to stand by the LGBTQIA community are sure to have the long term support of not just the community but also millions of straight allies.“
