Starbucks Being Used to Increase Racism Awareness

As a marketing effort to raise awareness towards racism, the phrase “Black Lives Matter” has been replacing the names of several Starbuck’s customers.

After a devastating police shooting that resulted in the death of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, Starbuck’s customers, who were disturbed by this tragic event, decided to integrate activism into their daily lives.

This activism movement started with 33-year-old photographer and poet, Lex Cross. Changing his name to “Black Lives Matter” requires baristas at Starbucks to shout out the phrase when his drink is ready. Cross posted a picture of his receipt on Facebook with “#blacklivesmatter” and since then has reached over 45,000 shares and likes.

This idea came to him after he changed his Starbuck’s app name to his recently past away mother’s name. This was his way of honoring her for Mother’s Day. By using the same method, he believed he could raise awareness for one of the top current issues in today’s society.

After a couple of weeks have past, many other customers started following Cross’ lead. Several customers are changing their name to “Black Lives Matter” as well as posting about it on their social media pages with #blacklivesmatter. One customer recorded the barista shouting the phrase and posted it on social media with the caption “Acknowledge us!”

Starbucks has not responded to this movement, but it sure is getting a lot of attention.