Public Relations Analysis of Starbucks' Approach to Black Lives Matter

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Starbucks' public relations strategies in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. The report examines the company's initial decision to prohibit employees from wearing Black Lives Matter apparel, the subsequent backlash, and their eve...Read More

MUKHRIZ DANIEL BIN ZAIFUL BAHARI
1
FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION & MEDIA STUDIES
DIPLOMA IN COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA
PRO 221:
Public Assignments Bro
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT:
Article Assignments analysis
PREPARED BY:
Zackrie rohn shried sar
GROUP:
MMC1102020
LECTURER:
DR. Rahim Jamaluddin
DATE OF SUBMISSION:
23/7/2021

MUKHRIZ DANIEL BIN ZAIFUL BAHARI
2
Table of Contents
SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................... 3
PROFESSIONALISM .......................................................................................................................... 4
CATEGORIES OF PR ......................................................................................................................... 5
ROLES AND CONCEPTS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS .................................................................... 6
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................... 8

MUKHRIZ DANIEL BIN ZAIFUL BAHARI
3
SUMMARY
The news story that I have chosen is authored by Christian Allaire and published on
14th June 2020; it discusses about how Starbucks addresses the Black Lives Matter movement
by designing a t-shirt, in which they wanted to create their own Black Lives Matter apparel in
response to public outrage over their decision to prohibit their staff members from wearing
Black Lives Matter T-shirts, pins, and related items to it. As we know, Starbucks was on track
to achieve a market capitalisation of $28.2 billion during the year 2020. Although the coffee
chain multinational has amassed a substantial amount of wealth, it has struggled to establish a
solid footing in the Black Lives Matter movement, which has been fueled by demonstrations
across the country calling for justice and fairness for Black Americans who have all been
sufferers of racism and police brutality.
Following the death of an African American man during an arrest in Minneapolis on
25th May, protests and riots against police brutality, particularly against black people, rapidly
swept throughout the world. Despite the fact that multinational companies such as Nike which
this company was publicly expressing their support for Black Lives Matter by making
insightful and bold statements regarding the issue, and also not to forget according to Emma
Elizbeth Davidson (2020), the company such as ASAI and Eckhaus Latta who publicly donated
to the Black Lives Matter movement. On the other hand, it has been reported that Starbucks
will not allow its employees to wear clothes and accessories that support the cause because the
ongoing issue is highly political and could incite violence. It was stated by the company that
the decision was made in order to avert occurrences of violence and hatred, as its Black Lives
Matter people were still enraged by what had occurred. However, the Starbucks company was
forced to immediately reverse its business decisions as the internet community began to trend
the hashtag #BoycottStarbucks in response to their decision to prohibit their staff from wearing
accessories and clothing that was associated with the Black Lives Matter movement. When
Starbucks reversed its stance on the matter, the business offered an olive branch to the public
by introducing its own Black Lives Matter merchandise, such as T-shirts, as well as start issuing
a statement on the matter.

MUKHRIZ DANIEL BIN ZAIFUL BAHARI
4
PROFESSIONALISM
In the business world, public relations is a management tool that is used to build support
among a company’s numerous internal and external constituencies (Thomas & Lane, 1990). In
accordance with another definition, public relations encompasses efforts that are centred on
enhancing a positive company’s image through publicity and participation in community
activities (Zeithaml, Bitner & Gremler, 2009). The primary responsibilities of public relations
professionals are to establish and maintain outstanding relationships with the organisation’s
various stakeholders, which include individuals as well as private, governmental, and societal
institutions broadly. It is true to say that maintaining and enhancing a pleasant and positive
image of a company requires the efforts of public relations professionals to act with integrity
and professionalism. When controversy or a problematic issue arises, it is the responsibility of
public relations professionals to act quickly to ensure that the company’s image is not affected.
This article demonstrates that they are putting out significant effort to further secure the
profile of this brand in the marketplace. In response to Starbucks’ refusal to allow their staff to
wear clothing that was associated with Black Lives Matter, so the community erupted in
outrage, with some even creating a hashtag to urge the firm to cease operations and persuade
other people not to buy their product. Following the backlash, the corporation immediately
retracts its actions and decision of not to allow their staff to wear anything that is associated
with Black Lives Matter. The solution they came up with to deal with the problem was to create
off their own exclusive Black Lives Matter clothing and to post on social media to demonstrate
their support for the cause. Additionally, they emphasised that they are listening and paying
attention to communities in order to unite in the fight for justice. From this, we can see that
Starbucks is demonstrating a feeling of social responsibility and concern for the general public
in this manner.
During the last few years, Starbucks has become increasingly outspoken about its stand
on racial justice. For example, with the "Race Together" campaign, Starbucks attempted to
encourage customers to talk about race relations. Additionally, as a result of the incident, the
public brought up a huge old controversy from 2018 in which the two Black males were
detained for failing to make the payment while having to wait for their friend to come. This
company which is Starbucks has implemented anti-bias training to the staff following the 2018
incident in order to ensure that similar situations do not happen in the future. This behaviour

MUKHRIZ DANIEL BIN ZAIFUL BAHARI
5
by the public relations practitioner demonstrates one of the principles of the PRSA Code of
Ethics, which is Loyalty. This is due to the fact that they are loyal to whom they represent,
which is Starbucks, while also fulfilling their commitment to serve the public interest by giving
anti-bias training for their employees, allowing them to provide better service to their
customers.
However, as a result of this incident, the public has come to believe that Starbucks does
not adhere to its mission of standing up against racism, even after undergoing anti-bias training.
When asked about their plans for future projects related to Black Lives Matter, Starbucks
stayed silent, despite the fact that other organisations and retailers are contributing to
continuing to support Black Americans in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Starbucks, as a multinational company and as a brand that caters to a diverse range of
people, should exhibit greater caution in its operations and marketing. If the issue is not handled
correctly, the hashtag such as #BoycottStarbucks might cause serious damage to the company’s
image. This will not only have a negative impact on the company’s reputation, but it will also
have a negative impact on sales which can lead to bankruptcy.
CATEGORIES OF PR
As a result of the backlash, Starbucks took to social media to express support for the
black lives matter movement. This demonstrates that their public relations staff are doing their
important part, as Food and Beverage Public Relations is the department that is responsible for
a great deal, from implementation to media outreach to social media management. According
to (Gruning and Hunt, 1984), four public relations models were developed to describe the
varied management and organisational techniques that exist in the field of public relations.
These principles should be used as a guideline when developing programs, plans, and strategies
to your company. The most relevant model is the Press Agent and the Publicity Model, in
which communication professionals employ persuasion to change the ideas and perspectives
of target publics but do not concern much about their reliability and do not want comments and
responses from their audience. To make it more sense, press agentry/publicity is one-way
communication, mostly through the mainstream media, used to disseminate exaggerated,
misleading, or even insufficient data in order to "hype" an issue, product, or service (Wilcox,

MUKHRIZ DANIEL BIN ZAIFUL BAHARI
6
Cameron, Reber, & Shin, 2013). Therefore, they are only interested in the reviews and
comments from the other side because it is a one-way method of communication, and it is safe
to infer that their actions are entirely for the purpose of protecting their own firm.
Looking back on the problem, the purpose that Starbucks released its own Black Lives
Matter clothes was to demonstrate to the media and the public that they listen and care to the
community. By releasing the clothing, they want to regain the people’s trust and media
attention. As the saying goes, “ one fell swoop”. As soon as they post on their social media
accounts to demonstrate that they support justice for the victims while also launching Black
Lives Matter apparel following that, the public will actually forget about the previous incident
since actively supporting a cause has been the most powerful method to generate attention.
However, when questioned about their future actions in support of Black Lives Matter,
Starbucks did not respond with any details. This reveals that they are not interested in receiving
criticism and do not really care about the movement; they just did so in order to sustain the
company’s positive public image.
ROLES AND CONCEPTS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public relations is extremely crucial in building brand credibility and improving a
company’s overall reputation. Aside from that, it is additional means of reaching our target
audience and raising awareness, which helps to promote a positive picture of a company.
Focusing on the brand reputation of the company, well as what others are saying about us, is
essential for effective public relations. This is because dissatisfied consumers who publicly
criticise in a bad way towards our brand can make a dent in company income.
What occurred at Starbucks has much to do with the management of issues. The
management of issues involves recognising the issues, challenges and trends on social media
that are significant to a company and then establishing and implementing a programme to
handle with all of them together. When the hashtag #BoycottStarbucks became popular,
Starbucks immediately overturned its decision to prohibit its employees from wearing clothing
that supports Black Lives Matter. Starbucks also shared a message on social media to express
their supports and respect for Black Lives Matter and the movement.

MUKHRIZ DANIEL BIN ZAIFUL BAHARI
7
This issue is also tied to risk management since, as preventative public relations
professionals, our job involves assisting organisations in identifying indicators of possible
threats and making recommendations for improvements before those threats manifest
themselves as disasters. It is a positive development that Starbucks has reversed its decision;
nevertheless, it is not a development that will cause it to cease to be the topic of conversation
in the community. What they did to shift the public’s attention was to create their own line of
Black Lives Matter clothing and distribute it. People will presume that Starbucks has learned
from their mistakes as a result of the release of the clothing, and it will also serve as a means
of apologising to the public at large. Its purpose is to demonstrate to the media and general
public that Starbucks is a brand that is concerned about human rights and current social issues.

MUKHRIZ DANIEL BIN ZAIFUL BAHARI
8
REFERENCES
Allaire, C. (2020, 14th June). Starbucks Is Addressing the Black Lives Matter Movement—By
Designing a T-Shirt. Vogue. https://www.vogue.com/article/starbucks-black-lives-
matter-t-shirt
Davidson, E. E. (2020, 8th June). Here are the brands who have posted in support of Black
Lives Matter. Dazed. https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/49432/1/black-
lives-matter-protests-support-fashion-marc-jacobs-versace-jacquemus
Grunig, J. E. (1992). Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management (1st
ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203812303
Thomas, J., & Lane, R. (1990). Kleppner’s advertising procedure (11th ed.). Englewood
Cliffs, N.J. Prentice Hall.
Wilcox, D. L., Cameron, G. T., Reber, B. H., & Shin, J. (2013). THINK Public Relations:
Pearson New International Edition (2nd ed.). Pearson.
Zeithaml, V. A., Bitner, M. J., & Gremeler, D. (2009). Services Marketing. New York.
McGraw Hill-Irwin. Published.