Starbucks India stirred controversy and faced calls for boycotts following the release of a commercial set in India that sparked objections, particularly from the right-wing community. The company drew criticism for its latest promotional campaign, which portrayed parents meeting their transgender daughter at a Starbucks outlet.
In the video, a father initially grapples with accepting his daughter’s transition but eventually embraces it by ordering a drink for her under her new name. Starbucks India shared the video on Twitter with the caption, “Your name defines who you are – whether it’s Arpit or Arpita. At Starbucks, we love and accept you for who you are. Because being yourself means everything to us. #ItStartsWithYourName.”
The advertisement faced significant backlash, with political commentator Rukshan Fernando tweeting, “Starbucks facing backlash in India after adopting a full Bud Light approach. Introducing a mediocre US coffee brand to the market wasn’t bad enough; now they bring their woke corporate culture to the Subcontinent.”
In Starbucks India’s comment section, one user expressed dismay, stating, “It’s deeply concerning to witness the rapid erosion of cultural identity in our era. Certain liberal forces persistently normalize practices that seem to undermine our cherished traditions and values.”
Another user questioned Starbucks India’s marketing approach, commenting, “I’m a huge Starbucks fan and spend thousands of rupees in their coffee shops annually. But I can’t comprehend why @StarbucksIndia would launch a woke campaign under the guise of advertising? Can’t they just promote their coffee and service in India?”
A different comment criticized the promotion of what they deemed “immoral values,” asserting, “What are you promoting @Starbucks… Don’t endorse such cultural shifts… We don’t need any lessons on accepting such immoral values… We are Bharatvasis, and we take pride in our civilization.”
“I don’t understand why brands do this… these ads alienate huge portions of the population. Whatever happened to common-sense advertising? Videos like this alienate more customers than they attract. Literally wasting advertising dollars just to virtue signal,” expressed another disgruntled individual.
Watch the controversial ad here:
America has exported woke culture all around the globe, and Starbucks India just provided yet another example of this phenomenon. Since the end of World War II, the United States has been the global hegemon of liberalism, and many other nations have sought to mimic its cuIture.
Fleetwood Mac star Stevie Nicks finally reveals what life changing advice Prince gave to her
She spent the night working on a song that would end up becoming the lead single from Nicks’ 1983 solo album “The Wild Heart” and the single went to No. 5 in the U.S. Billboard Top 100.
After writing her song ‘Stand Back” she asked for a meeting with Prince and 20 minutes later they were introduced to each other for the first time in a studio in Los Angeles.
Nicks said Prince listened to her song, inspired by his “Little Red Corvette” classic and went straight over to the keyboard to start adding his own parts.
He then got up, gave her a hug and left.
“He spoiled me for every band I’ve ever had because nobody can exactly re-create — not even with two piano players —what Prince did all by his little self,” she said in the book “Rock Lives.”
Nicks said as much as she admired Prince, she avoided a romantic relationship with him because she appreciated their musical connection.
“He spoiled me for every band I’ve ever had because nobody can exactly re-create — not even with two piano players —what Prince did all by his little self,” she said in the book “Rock Lives.”
Nicks said as much as she admired Prince, she avoided a romantic relationship with him because she appreciated their musical connection.
“I really wanted a musical relationship, and I had smartened up, even then,” she explained. “You’ll break up and never speak again. But he wasn’t interested in just that.”
In turn, Prince’s “When Doves Cry” was inspired by Nicks’ song “Edge of Seventeen.”
The Fleetwood Mac star said that she was heavily into drugs when she collaborated with Prince.
“The eighties were pretty bad drug years for me,” Stevie Nicks told The New Yorker. “And Prince was not very into drugs. And the fact that he ended up being on a lot of pain medication just blows my mind, because he was so against it, and he gave me so many lectures about it.”
The “Gypsy” singer said Prince warned her about her drug use. “I’d talk to him every once in a while on the phone, and we’d talk for hours, and he’d go, ‘You gotta be careful, Stevie.’ And I’d go, ‘I know, I know.’”
Following his death Nicks said, “My sadness is that he did die of an accidental drug overdose. He’s up there looking down, saying to me, ‘Sweetie, I can’t believe it happened either.’”
It seems Prince was right to be worried at the time as Nicks ended up in rehab twice. The singer checked into the Betty Ford clinic in 1986 for her cocaine addiction, and then went to another hospital in 1993 for her addiction to Klonopin, which Nicks said she was over-prescribed.
But in 1986, Nicks spoke to a plastic surgeon about her nose. The doctor told her she had burned a coin-sized hole in her nose from her cocaine abuse.
“I said, ‘What do you think about my nose?’” the singer recalled. “And he said, ‘Well, I think the next time you do a hit of cocaine, you could drop dead.’”
Following her conversation with the doctor, Nicks decided to check into the Betty Ford clinic. The move helped turn her life around and arguably saved her career and her life.
Thank goodness she had a conversation that set her on the right path. It sounds like it came at just the right time.
It is, however, a tragedy that Prince couldn’t get off the harmful opioids that he was on. Nicks’ story just confirms the musical genius he really was and how generous he was with his talent.
He will always be a musical legend, missed by millions.
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