[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Starbucks' Ready-To-Drink (RTD) posted an image on social media that evoked controversy related to misogynistic imagery, then deleted it after backlash.
On the 25th, Starbucks RTD issued an apology via its official Instagram, stating, "We sincerely apologize for the misunderstanding and controversy caused by the image uploaded today," and added, "There was no intention behind the content creation."
Earlier that day, Starbucks RTD posted an image promoting the Double Shot Espresso Cream, one of Starbucks' canned coffee products. The photo included a shadow of a hand seemingly trying to grasp the can, which was pointed out to resemble the 'pincer hand' gesture associated with 'namhyeom' (misandry).
Regarding this, Starbucks RTD explained, "The content was planned to depict a hand shadow trying to grab coffee on the sand, themed around the summer heat," and added, "After upload, concerns were raised that the shadow resembled a specific image, so to prevent further controversy, we decided to delete the content first."
They continued, "There was no intention in the content creation," but also stated, "We take this matter seriously internally and will exercise more careful review and caution to ensure similar issues do not occur again."
Meanwhile, this is not the first time the 'pincer hand' image has caused controversy. GS Retail also faced allegations of disparaging men by including a pincer hand image in the May event poster for its convenience store brand 'GS25' last May. As the controversy grew, GS Retail CEO Cho Yoon-sung personally posted an apology on the franchisee bulletin board.
Starbucks RTD is a company that manufactures and distributes Starbucks beverages to convenience stores and marts. In South Korea, Dongseo Food has been producing and selling Starbucks brand RTD products since 2005.
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