March 20, 2001
The Organic Consumers Association held a
Day of Action against Starbucks Coffee Houses across the US in almost 100
cities. The protest coincided with Starbucks annual shareholders meeting in
Seattle.
Actions took place in at least six cities in Michigan including
Ann Arbor, Birmingham, Detroit, East Lansing, Kalamazoo and Traverse
City.
CONSUMERS DEMANDED STARBUCKS REMOVE BOVINE GROWTH HORMONE (rBGH)
AND OTHER GENETICALLY ENGINEERED INGREDIENTS FROM THE COMPANY'S BRAND-NAME
PRODUCTS, START BREWING AND SERIOUSLY PROMOTING FAIR TRADE COFFEE, AND IMPROVE
THE WAGES AND WORKING CONDITIONS OF COFFEE PLANTATION WORKERS. THIS IS PART OF A
NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO DRIVE GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS AND BEVERAGES OFF THE
MARKET AND TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE, EQUITABLE AND ORGANIC FARMING
PRACTICES.
CONTACT:
Ronnie Cummins (218) 226-4164
ronnie@organicconsumers.org
Simon Harris (510) 525-7054
simon@organicconsumers.org
Larry Bohlen (202) 783-7400 x 251
Ibohlen@foe.org
From Ann Arbor:
10-15 activists from a
range of backgrounds (high schoolers,
community activist types, student labor
groups, UM faculty and grad
students) gathered for flyering and general
"presence" at the Ann Arbor store on State Street Starbucks definitely was
expecting us since there were police cars on both cross streets, 2 bike cops,
and probably a total of 5 officers. The police left us alone, let us do
our thing, and when they realized we weren't going to create a mess, they
filtered away, being friendly and fairly open minded to our cause as they
left.
We had some casual interaction with employees, and at one point
they
brought us out brewed fair trade coffee, which we graciously
declined.
They had copies of the letter from Orin Smith ready, with a
"Dear
Customer" cover letter. The manager quickly gave me one of these
when I
passed on a press packet to him.
Expertise from biology
professors and grad students that conduct research
in shade grown coffee in
Central and South America helped provide
credibility to our cause. Both
The Michigan Daily (campus paper) and the
Ann Arbor News ran
stories.
All and all I would say it was effective. Thanks to OCA and the
rest of
the group for the great organizational efforts.
The Michigan
Daily story:
http://www.michigandaily.com/archives/
the Ann Arbor
News story:
http://aa.mlive.com/business/index.ssf?/business/stories/20010321a850amf4
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dstarbucks21.frm
From Lansing:
Follow up to our protest -
great coverage. Fox 5 o clock, NBC
5 and 6 o clock, and ABC 5 o clock all ran
VERY short but supportive
and HIGHLY visual stories about our
action.
As for print media, The State News (the Michigan State Newspaper,
with
about 20,000 readers daily) ran a half page story with a front
page
blurb - there's also an online version at
http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=3183
Overview
- the protest went off very smoothly, with large numbers
gathered early when
the news crews were there - great visuals -
protesters stood in front of the
Starbucks, as well as on all the
nearby street corners. G. River is a very
busy street for both auto and
pedestrian traffic. Thousands of people saw our
protest today. Press
packs were given out to the media, and about half the
protesters signed
in (as did most of the media) for further updates. Some of
them asked
NOT to be a part of any regular occurring mailing list, however.
At one
point Starbucks employees brought out samples of their Fair
Trade
coffee with little stickers attached to show how conscientious they
were
being. It didn't go over well and they soon went back inside. For
the
most part, the Starbucks was empty, though as our numbers
dwindled,
more folks got courageous and went inside. Undercover police
were
present but stayed out of the way. About 80% of passers-by
took
information; some people were obviously angry that we were picking
on
their favorite coffee shop. Others said they "already knew all
about
Starbucks" but declined to stay and protest. Still, hundreds of
people,
including lots of college students (That locations primary market)
took
info.
Overall the protest went very very well. It was a beautiful
day, people were in a good mood, no tickets were issued or threats made, and the
activist community felt reinvigorated by it. Pictures from activists camera
should be sent or emailed to you within the next few days.
From
Birmingham:
Three of us were at the Starbucks location in downtown
Birmingham. We had hardly been there a minute when one police officer
showed up. We had a short discussion. He decided we were not a
threat and left.
We handed out about eighty leaflets to customers and
passers-by alike. The reception was good, and people did at least read
what they were given. We sat down with several people for discussion and
could have used a bit more help with this, as it became clear that more
education is needed.
The responses were favorable. One woman took her
leaflet to her car to read but came back shouting "You are absolutely right,
they should not be serving GMO stuff." One man returned after a
short interval and requested a bunch of leaflets to take back to his
co-workers. Another lady was distressed that the GMO stuff is in
everything. Another man went away resolving to "do something."
What
happened inside the shop is hard to determine as we made no attempt to enter,
but the manager came out looking a bit flustered, bringing us a copy of the
chairman's letter. She seemed surprised that we had already read it and
had decided to protest anyway. She also did not know where to find non BGH
milk. But we had an amicable interchange.
One man who claimed to be
a Starbucks employee started to shout that "Starbucks only uses NATURAL
ingredients in their products" It was impossible to reach him to
tell him that the word natural covers a multitude of
things.