Starbucks’ Korean sales fell after returning to ‘Tank Day’ advertising campaign | Demonstrations

The coffee industry has seen a sharp drop in sales after a campaign that led to deadly riots, says a local operator.

Starbucks Korea has suffered a “significant” loss in sales after an advertising campaign that evoked the brutal 1980s military crackdown on pro-democracy activists sparked public outcry, according to the coffee operator.

The Shinsegae group, whose subsidiary E-Mart is South Korea’s leading coffee maker, has been criticized for its “Tank Day” campaign, which was launched on the anniversary of the May 18 Gwangju Uprising, when the military government sent in troops and tanks to suppress pro-democracy protests.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Shinsegae Group chairman Chung Yong-jin issued a public apology and asked people not to be angry with Starbucks Korea employees and front-line workers.

“I think it’s a very important issue, because many people felt a lot of pain and anger because of the inappropriate marketing of Starbucks Korea,” Chung said.

“I will take full responsibility for what happened.”

Chung also asked people not to take their frustrations out on Starbucks store employees, saying the responsibility lies with management. There were no immediate reports of major incidents in stores.

Chung first apologized on May 19, saying that the campaign had caused “great pain to the victims and bereaved families of the May 18 Democratization Movement and to the general public”.

Shinsegae fired the head of Starbucks Korea last week after he apologized on the campaign trail. Starbucks Global also apologized and said an investigation had begun.

A Shinsegae executive said sales had fallen sharply since the trade dispute.

“Although sales are not our biggest problem at the moment, we have seen a significant decline,” the official said.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Jeon Sangjin, the head of Shinsegae Group, said the company had found no conclusive evidence that Starbucks Korea workers wanted to discredit the pro-democracy movement, a charge the workers denied.

However, he said some employees refused management’s request to hand over their phones during the week’s internal audit.

Jeon said the company will consider the results of the police investigation, and any employee found to be trying to insult the protesters will be fired.

Outrage over the campaign led to calls for a boycott, which was intensified by government officials, including Interior and Security Minister Yoon Ho-jung, who said Starbucks products would no longer be used at government events and complained about the chain’s “anti-reputable behavior”.

The country’s president, Lee Jae Myung, said on X last week that the campaign shows “the inhumane and shameful behavior of cheap profiteers who reject the values ​​of the South Korean people, human rights and democracy”.

Hundreds of people were reported dead or missing when Chun Doo-hwan’s military government clamped down on protests in Gwangju.

Details have not been confirmed, including who ordered the shooting.