Starbucks Combats Fake Ads Targeting Undocumented Individuals
Starbucks is combating ads that appear to be from the company aimed at drawing in undocumented individuals with a discount.
The ads declare Aug. 11 Dreamer Day and offer a 40% discount on any item on the Starbucks menu or to use the coupon code “UNAFRAID” for a free Grande cold beverage at any location. The ads include the #BORDERFREECOFFEE.
BuzzFeed News reported that the plot was hatched on 4chan last week via a post about “naming a liberal place for all illegals to go at one and demand free stuff.” A follow up post suggested then alerting “ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] for the Round up.” 4chan describes itself as “a simple image-based bulletin board where anyone can post comments and share images anonymously.”
Starbucks responded by directly contacting those spreading the fake Dreamer Day ads and posted its own tweet: “This is completely false. Starbucks is not sponsoring any such event. Please do not spread misinformation.”
One tip off for anyone with a sharp eye would see that this ad [right] is likely fake because “Frappacino” is misspelled.
Starbucks made news in January when it announced that it would hire 10,000 refugees over five years in the countries were it operates in response to President’s Trump’s ban on refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries. Within days the company faced backlash on social media. Some people began using #BoycottStarbucks while others posted images of themselves deleting Starbucks’ apps on their phones.
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