Stingy Starbucks has the wrong holiday

Wow. That headline sounds as if I were editorializing in the Akron Free Press. But anyways... on the the moralizing!

On Saturday, I got Punk'd. Starbucks has a clever marketing gimmick here in New York. They have cars driving around Manhattan with a Starbucks cup fastened on top, as if the driver accidentally forgot to bring his coffee in with him. As the car slowly cruises by, throngs of people on the sidewalk will point and yell at the driver that he forgot his coffee on top of the car. I actually walked up to the car to hand the driver his coffee and was greeted by the driver: "MERRY CHRISTMAS, FROM STARBUCKS!"

It's a clever idea. Too bad it's the season of giving, and not April Fool's Day. The total effect of the Starbucks campaign is to make people feel foolish for not getting it. It's like Starbucks took us. This would be appropriate for a Halloween trick-or-treat, but not for Hannukah and Christmas.

The appropriate thing to do would be for the driver to give a gift certificate for a free coffee to anyone kind enough to try to take the coffee off the top of the car. That way, Starbucks would be endorsing acts of kindness. Instead, it's a gotcha moment.

I saw another car today. The same thing happened to others as happened to me. For shame, Starbucks!

[And yes, I did write this as a ploy that some Starbucks official would send me free gift certificates. 'Tis the season!]