#RaceTogether

Overview

#RaceTogether is a promotional Twitter hashtag launched by the American global coffeehouse chain Starbucks to encourage its customers to engage in conversations about the state of race relations in the United States. Upon its launch in March 2015, the campaign immediately became a target of criticisms and mockeries online for its provocative nature.

Background

On March 16th, 2015, Starbucks, in partnership with USA Today^[1], announced a new co-op initiative called “Race Together,” which aims to tackle the issue of race in the United States by encouraging its employees at 12,000 locations to “spark customer conversation on the topic of race." According to the USA Today’s article, Starbucks baristas at participating locations will serve drinks in cups bearing the hashtag #RaceTogether, along with a “Race Together” pamphlet co-written by the coffeehouse chain and the daily newspaper.

Notable Developments

On the morning of March 17th, dozens of Starbucks customers took their reactions to the #RaceTogether campaign on Twitter^[9], with many poking fun at the company’s less than subtle attempt at incorporating the ongoing racial tension into their latest PR campaign, while others jeered that the company should instead focus on getting the customers’ names right. According to Topsy^[6], the Twitter hashtag garnered more than 67,000 mentions within the first 48 hours of the campaign launch.

MSNBC Segment

Later that evening, CBS Sunday Morning commentator Nancy Giles and New York City radio DJ and music blogger Jay Smooth appeared in a split-screen debate segment on MSNBC’s nightly news program All In with Chris Hayes to discuss the Starbucks campaign and race relations in the United States, during which Giles insinuated that Smooth had co-opted black culture, unaware of the fact that Jay Smooth is half black.

“It’s also interesting because I’m actually black, but you assumed otherwise. And this is the sort of awkwardness that we can look forward to at Starbucks across America.”