So as I promised in yesterday's diary, David Shuster Will Cover Free Republic's Smears Against Malia Obama on Monday by LaurenMonica, I sent Starbucks an email regarding their sponsorship of Morning Joke. To my surprise, I received a response today. It still doesn't change the fact that I will continue to boycott Starbucks. I enjoy MSNBC as a station but to see Joe and Mika go on and on about the Starbuck sponsorship just makes me no longer enjoy their product.
See below the fold for the email response.
Hello ,
Thank you so much for taking the time to write to us.
I want you to know that we appreciate hearing how you feel about our marketing relationship with MSNBC and the "Morning Joe" program.
Through this partnership, we're hoping to reach our customers in a meaningful fashion and highlight our exceptional coffee and values which have built our brand from the beginning. For years, Starbucks stores have served as the center of vibrant communities where relevant conversations in the country have taken place which makes a partnership with a brand like MSNBC a natural fit for the company and our coffeehouse culture. We are not sponsoring a specific political view or party, as a global company this is something that we refrain from doing. Rather, this is the beginning of a multi-faceted partnership and we look forward to focusing on the community philanthropy and marketing side of the relationship going forward.
Please know that I will share your thoughts with the marketing department here in our corporate office.
Thank you again for contacting us. If you have any further questions or concerns that I was unable to address, please feel free to let me know.
Warm regards,
Michael L.
Customer Relations
Starbucks Coffee Company
800 23-LATTE (235-2883)
p.s. I would really like to know if my response met your needs; please click here if you'd be willing to share your thoughts in a brief survey.
I will take the survey at some point to let them know that while I do appreciate their response, it didn't make much sense. Look either they are trying to reach a new audience or not. If so, Morning Joke probably isn't the place to do so. What it has done is pissed off customers who were already loyal. At least for me anyway. I watch Morning Joke because it is the only political talkshow on in morning. I don't watch so much as it is on in the background. Mika's Dad completely saves this show for me. But I only use the show for background noise in the morning. I would suspect most of the viewers of the show feel the same. They tolerate this show because hey, it is the best way to get an early fix on the Republican talking points of the day.
However, to see Starbucks, a company that I always viewed as progressive put their brand next to the sickening characters that are Joe and Mika, is too much. I know they are trying to make it seem as though this is a deal with all of MSNBC-Land and not Morning Joke, but I honestly don't recall the other on-air personalities like David Shuster, Tamryn Hall, K.O. or Rachel pushing this sponsorship as loudly or boisterously as Joe. They had a sponsorship for free because every morning it was no secret that Mika would drink Starbucks coffee.
It just doesn't make sense. So I just want to share with you the email response in hopes that it will make sense to others.