For my second-to-last (!!) blog post, I decided to read a chapter from Professor Bryant Simon’s (2009) book Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks. I read Chapter 6: Not-So-Green Cups, a look at Starbucks’ environmental messaging and how it ends up at odds with the less-than eco-friendly realities of Starbucks business practices. Simon discusses how alongside Americans becoming more distrustful of the government and political processes, many Americans have turned to corporations to solve global issues, which ironically the same corporations have largely caused (2009, pp. 174-175). One of the largest problems with these private solutions is that corporations do not want to invest in solutions that take away from their bottom lines, which Simon exemplifies throughout the chapter. Unsettlingly, Simon writes that many of us have “eschewed the political path, opting instead to have [our] buying speak for [us]” (2009, pp. 175). We have accepted the minimal efforts made by corporations while hurtling towards climate disaster, in part because we believe we lack power to meaningfully change our surroundings.
This chapter reminded me of a discussion I had with Sarah at the Red Cup Strike last Thursday. I mentioned that Chelsea Manning was a former Starbucks employee and that I met her a couple years ago and she told me part of why she left her Starbucks job to enlist in the military was she needed better benefits. After sharing Chelsea’s story, Sarah described Starbucks as a “queer honeypot” – they offer some really excellent benefits to trans people but make the benefits challenging to access. I want to talk more with Sarah about this when I interview her and hopefully with Professor Simon if he agrees to talk with me.
These past two weeks have been eventful for my documentary. On the 16th, I filmed the Starbucks Workers United’s protest against Red Cup Day outside a Starbucks in University City with help from Aaliyah (thanks Aaliyah!) I have included that in my proof of concept. After discussion with my partner I think I will opt for VO and he has kindly agreed to lend his voice to my project. I also finally heard back from Starbucks and while they declined an interview, they gave me a list of their talking points which I will include in my documentary. I plan on seeing if anyone involved in the union decertification efforts will speak with me – I still think that will provide an interesting counterpoint for viewers to consider and will ensure a balanced story. Finally, after reading this chapter by Professor Simon, I have reached out to see if he would be willing to be in my documentary. I would be interested in talking with him about Starbucks branding as a progressive company being at odds with what is experienced by union employees.
Work Cited:
Simon, B. (2009). Not-So-Green Cups. In Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks (1st ed., pp. 173–200). University of California Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pp5hm.10